Antique Machinery....

Here are some shots of some of the real antique freight elevators in the former MK&T railroad shop building here in town. An electrician friend is in there doing some work and kindly took some pics for me.




This one originally had a hydraulic lift beneath it.. not sure, but I think it was air over water.. I'm not real clear on how that operated. The plumbing is all still there, but they've disconnected all of it... uses a electric hoist mounted over the shaft now to do the work. Only has to lift it to the mezzanine up above.. used to be a machine shop up there. It's still usable.



This one is still in original condition, but inoperable. It may have been a hydraulic lift, too.. but they replaced that with this electric hoist way back when. The building is 1914. The dark color box covers the hoisting mechanism. The electric drive motor is visible.



This is a closeup of the control mechanism. I worked there for a while and casually glanced at this to see if I could get it up and running, but gave up and got the other one working instead. Looks like their was some sort of pneumatic system connected in there, too. Like I say, I didn't delve too far into that particular lift.



This shows one set of the two counterweights that counterbalance the weight of the platform. Both elevators had these.

Would like to see pics of the machine shop.

Well, there is no machine shop in that place anymore. Last item of any importance was a small Bullard and a big lathe~ both pieces hauled off by the scrap man.. who got them for just hauling them off.

After I found out those pieces were going bye-bye I told the boss "I'd sure like to have the chuck off that lathe" (about 36" dia.) and he said "if you can get it off you can have it.. the scrap man is getting them for free, I don't care what you take off them!"

Well, I couldn't get them off in the limited time I had to do it in... shoulda just torched the spindle off the lathe and called it good..

I did take all the lathe tools, though. Those are some big items, there. Still have all that stuff. Got some expanding mandrels up to about 4 inches. Haven't found a use for them, yet. Drill bits up to either 3 or 3½", too.

Looking for Antique elevator. Do you know where one is for sale. Need to be a least 5x5 for handicap requirements. Old freight elevator would work as well.

For private use you might be ok. But if your not up on requirements many states and municipalities have you may want to look into it. Elevators seem to be evil according to OSHA and insurance companies. It can only be worse if your putting people on them. We had what was more a "dumb waiter" at a nursing home I worked at. The thing was original early 1970s and it was almost grandfathered in as far as rules went but the maintenance man and administrator were afraid of it. If the costs were not enough to repair it by outside contractors then OSHA kept there eyes on it. Just waiting to write up violations on it. Maybe you already know the ins and outs in your area or do not plan on using for the public? But if you don't? Be forewarned at least in my area in WI they are considered evil. We also had one in a machine shop I worked in years ago. It malfunctioned and a guy got hurt on it. I recall we were not supposed to ride it down, but he must of. It was never repaired. It only went down about 6 ft at the most upper floor/lower floor type a thing. From then on every thing went up or down by overhead crane. They were moving to a new building shortly after the accident so it could be they just didn't want to fix it too? Cool old elevators and building by OP.
Regards, John.