Great Elevator Americana!
September 24th, 2010. Posted in Elevators - 1900-1930, Elevators - 1931-1950, Elevators - Pre 1900's
It is awesome when we get these kinds of e-mails. This one came from Rob who has some great old elevator castings. What makes the photo’s even cooler is the fact that Rob has the history that goes along with them.
Rob Piron - The half moon dial has been made into a clock using a thrush bearing gauge. It was apparently created as a “42 years of service” award for a retiring G.E. employee credited with inventing a “hydraulic floor indicator” device. The year of retirement is indicated as 1968, but the dial appears older than that – not sure though.
The switch is salvage of unknown origin. I refinished and mounted it on a pole stand. I have another switch buried in my barn similar in style to the Nissen Building variety posted on your site. Again, note sure of the vintages of either of these styles, but I’m curious which style pre-dates which. I was told the Otis globe logo with the “wreath” pre-dates logos without, but haven’t been able to confirm this.
The brass ID plate came out the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, Portland, Maine. The car it was removed from was the original installation from 1892; birdcage style cab driven by an electric basement drum machine.
Ideally I would like to ID exact dates on the Otis items; I’m sure that’s a stretch though. They all do have part numbers, so I was curious if dating is possible with these data.
The last pics are for fun; Here is a great pair of extant c 1911 Otis’s located in the Triangle Lodge building in Portland, Maine. They are the last manual passenger elevators in the City.
Tom, thanks for your help. I’ve been an armchair admirer of early building systems since I was a kid and it’s great to see sites like yours breathing new life into these marvels of the past.
Thanks again,
Rob Piron
Pat Carrajat was nice enough to help with identifying some of these pieces.
- The half moon is typical for the period between 1890-1940, no way to identify exact dates unless there is date or a casting number. Some casting numbers can be cross referenced by Otis, this vintage woulb often have 2-4 numbers followed by 1-2 letters followed oby 1-2 numbers
- (i.e. 147TA2 which is a hall button cover or 1898-12 also a button cover. The 1898 does not refer to the year.
- The car switch cover & handle appears to be a type “O”, I should have a parts leaflet and will check. If it’s a “O” it was produced sometime in the 1930’s in all likelihood.
- The capacity plate cannot be dated, the style speaks to me as being early 1900’s or late 1800’s.
Thanks Rob again for sharing not only your photographs of early americana elevator pieces but for also including the history behind them!
If you would like to comment on this post please do so in the comments section below.
Tom Sybert
www.elevatorpreservation.com
Antique Elevator Wanted For 1898 Home
September 20th, 2010. Posted in Elevators - 1900-1930, Elevators - Pre 1900's
Jim is looking for an Antique Elevator for his home.
I am looking for an antique elevator for use in a large older home renovation project. I would appreciate any help finding one.
Thanks
Jim
iamthepa@hotmail.com
After contacting Jim to ask him permission to share his e-mail he later shared the following.
Tom, Thanks… yes, posting would be fine… we are in the process of purchasing a large older home in need of repairs and we are planning on adding an additional 2000+ square feet. The elevator would be located in the new addition. It will go from the basement to to third floor ball room. New, would be fine, but old would be better. The home was built in about 1898 and currently has just over 10,000 feet without counting the basement. I have been told that antique elevators are out there, just have to be lucky enough to find them.
Help Jim by sharing your thoughts in the comments section below.
Pacific Coast Elevator Company Video
September 2nd, 2010. Posted in Articles, Elevators - 1931-1950
Pretty cool video from Youtube user elevatortraction who has some great video’s on his page that relate to older elevators. This one at Antique Elevator at 92 Lonsdale Ave. in North Vancouver, British Columbia is no exception. The elevator was fabricate most likely in it’s entirety by Pacific Coast Elevator Company located in the Los Angeles Area.
Pacific Coast Elevator was a major manufacturer in the 1930’s and beyond. It was purchased in 1946 by Montgomery Elevator Company. It’s not clear whether the products that PECO manufactured continued on or if Montgomery started to phase the components out. If anyone has additional information to share on this please do so in the comments section below.
Thanks again to tractionelevator over on www.youtube.com for sharing this video. The elevator looks to be original to when the building was built.
July 31st, 2010
Original Car Switch From Nissen Building
We absolutely love when we get e-mails from people who have come across true elevator artifacts and have the history that comes with the piece.
Thanks to Tommy Yates who was nice enough to contact Jim over at C.J. Anderson asking how much the car switch that he purchased might be worth. What’s great is that the history that Tommy has on where this car switch came from.
This Otis car switch was pulled out of the Nissen Building in Winston-Salem, NC when they did a remodeling back in the 1970’s. Some other great information that Tommy had to share was that he remembers going into this building many times during the 50’s and 60’s as his dad’s office was on the 3rd floor. The elevator doors were brass and polished almost daily, also there was a fold down seat in the car for the operator. The lobby had this beautiful pink marble wainscoating that sadly was torn out during the remodeling of the bldg., my dad acquired enough of this to cover every table top in the house at the time.
These kinds of photographs and stories are what this website is all about. Thank you so much Tommy for sharing your photographs and story. Enjoy the photos and additional information on the Nissen Building.
Wikipedia Entry on the Nissen Building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissen_Building
Welcome Antique Elevator Aficionado!
May 1st, 2010. Posted in Articles
This blog is dedicated to those of us who have a real appreciation for elevators. Not just any elevator but ones that bring a bit of yesterday with each vertical trip. You might call them antique, classic or turn of the century designed, we just call them cool!
Elevator and their operators where the life blood when buildings started to be built upward. They gave buildings character and warmth with a friendly, “What Floor Please” when you entered. They also usually acted as a security guard, knowing when offices were closed, tenants were on vacation and when visitors shouldn’t be on a certain floor.
This blog is made up of contributors who truly appreciate older elevators. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to this site please drop us a line at elevatorpreservation@gmail.com , we’d love to have you. If you see a photograph that you believe is copyrighted please let us know. All photographs and links are for non commercial purposes. It is not our intention to infringe on anyones copyright.
March 23rd, 2010
Original Haughwout Building Elevator For Sale – 1857
Special thanks to Jan for sending this link over. It literally had my mouth hanging down to the floor for a couple of reasons. The first has to do with how much this elevator cab is being sold for, 50K! The second reason for my suprise is the fact that this very may well be the FIRST commerical elevator ever installed in the United States. If this elevator could talk, the stories it might tell.
I give the seller a lot of credit for putting such a high price tag on it. After all it’s more than just wood cab walls, its a piece of American History.
The actual listing is below.
Antique Otis Elevator Cab. Machined East Lake Style. First commercial elevator in NYC. Created as a cabinet in approximately 1825, the cab has pretty wood paneling and mirrors within and detail without. 48 x 67 inches. The cab, a historically and architecturally significant piece of American History, will be gently removed from The Haughwout Building in NYC. The elevator cab was constructed as a piece of custom millwork unlike contemporary cabs that are constructed in individual panels.
I just wish there were more photos to look at.
Butler Indicator or Elevator Indicator?
March 16th, 2010. Posted in Elevators - 1900-1930, Elevators - Pre 1900's
I’ve seen these before, mostly noted as elevator indicators but they seem to complicated to have worked with the types of elevator controllers that were built back around the 1900’s. This one noted to be either a butlers station or elevator indicator posts a date of 1882 which is a long time ago.
Have some information on how these might have worked? Comment below!
February 14th, 2010
Elevator Operator Safety Pin
Found this one for sale over on ebay. Currently at 18 bids and $103.80 this one is a hot item. I’m not sure if it’s popular because it’s linked to Studebaker or Elevators, but one thing is certain, it’s a cool piece of elevator memorabilia.
If only this pin could talk, the stories it might tell.
Description of Item: Pre 1954 Studebaker Corporation Employees Badge – Elevator Operator. No 159. “Safety First” “South Bend, Ind”. Excellent condition. Original pin
February 5th, 2010
Elevator Artwork!
Jack Bultman Jr, stopped in recently at C.J. Anderson & Company and was suprised to have seen an old CJA Car Switch hanging on the wall here in the office. He stopped and said that he had one that looked amazingly similar and that his Dad, Jack Sr, had made a lamp out of it. Without hesitation I asked Jack to take photographs of it and e-mail them to me.
Along the photos Jack added the following history behind it.
The background for this unique piece was my Dad worked at Lietelt elevator works in Grand Rapids Michigan from 1959 until 1960 building the controllers for Montgomery Elevator. One day the construction Super talked him into going to work for them.
Dave Otten gave me, Jack Jr., the fixture in 1996 to give to my dad. My Dad built the lamp in 1998. When my dad past away in 1999 my mother gave it to me to keep in the family. Underneath it is my dad’s original gang box that Montgomery gave him to work out of. I remember as a kid the thing always being in our garage somewhere piled high with junk. My dad made it into a table as you see there around the same time as the lamp.
All I can say is very cool! I hope this piece stays in the Bultman family but if you’re ever looking for another home for it please let us know.
January 28th, 2010
Help Ben Find An Old Elevator!
My name is Ben Samuel, I am working on a documentary series about Edwardian
engineering that will air on national Geographic in the States and Channel 4
in the UK.
I am very interested in finding any Edwardian (c1900-1915) era Otis Elevator
Company elevators that are still in working order. I am particularly
interested in any that are in the UK, or on New York, Washington or Chicago.
Do you know of any that might fir the bill?
Best wishes,
Ben
Ben Samuel
Associate Producer
Twenty Twenty Television
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