AMAZING, 111 YEAR OLD MANUALLY CONTROLLED Otis Traction Elevator at James Building, Chattanooga, TN

Filmed June 2018.
Once again, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!! I figured I would surprise you guys by uploading an EXTRA VIDEO TODAY!!!! And it is Also ANOTHER AMERICAN MADE Otis Elevator!!! If you talk to me personally off of KZbin, you would know I went up to Tennessee, Smokies to be exact, and I stopped in Chattanooga again!!! This visit however, I was told by a security guard in another building I filmed at about this AMAZING Elevator in this GORGEOUS, HISTORIC Building!!!! So I came here and I got to see this beauty!!! This building was built in 1907 and this bank of 4 elevators were all Manually Controlled Otis originally. However, 3 of them were modded twice, once in the 1960s by Haughton, and once again in the 90s or 2000s with PTL!!! However, the far left elevator in the bank, being it has a lantern and the doors are identical and there is NO CALL BUTTON for this elevator, you THINK it is modernized like the others in the bank, but in the outside, it's disguised and in REALITY, it's ORIGINAL!!! This is the Service/Freight Elevator in the building as the other 3 are passenger elevators, however it is sometimes ran by the maintenance guy wmserving as the operator when the traffic on the other elevators is high. Despite the mods on the passenger cars, this one is STILL COMPLETELY ORIGINAL from 1907 with it's ORIGINAL MOTORS, CRANKS, CAR SWITCH, ANNUNCIATOR, CONTROLLER AND EVERYTHING from 1907 making this BEAUTY 111 YEARS OLD!!! The gates may or may not be replaced judging by the Otis logo on the door track, and the walls of the cab were obviously redone at some point but otherwise, COMPLETELY ORIGINAL 111 YEAR OLD MANUAL OTIS ELEVATOR!!!! And the FACT it's 111 YEARS OLD and STILL RUNNIN' LIKE NEW shows how VERY BUILT Historic AMERICAN MADE Otis Elevators are!!!! I also got to OPERATE the BEAUTY going down!!!! It has 3 speeds, and it used to self level according to the maintenance guy, but it no longer does. This one is pretty easy to level though if you know how to operate it. I leveled it with ease, but going down I accidentally went to the basement and gave my mom and the guy a bit of a thrill ride back up to 1 going full speed!!! Whoops!!! It goes VERY FAST for a Manually Controlled/Hand Operated Elevator too!!! Obviously goes around 600-700 FPM for only 12 FLOORS!!! I could only go up to 7 as I believe 8-12 are either apartments, empty or law/financial offices, but oh well, I got to ride this AMAZING 111 YEAR OLD BEAST AND I GOT TO OPERATE IT!!! That being said, enjoy the video, Happy 4th of July again, and let's now ride this AMAZING, ALMOST COMPLETELY ORIGINAL 111 YEAR OLD ELEVATOR!!!!
Installed: 1907 (AND IT'S COMPLETELY ORIGINAL WITH ALL ORIGINAL EVERYTHING From the CAR SWITCH and CRANK to the MOTOR AND CONTROLLER!!!! Only upgrade done was refurbishment to the walls of the cab and likely floor and ceiling and maybe a replacement gate)

[@VancityElevators]

AMAZING

[@williamstrang2901]

COMPLETLY ORIGINAL! Nice video and happy 4th of July!

[@johnelevator777]

I love the building's name lol. XD

[@over.4262]

Awesome

[@ElevatingArizonaByGageWilliams]

Nice find! I’ve never been on a manual control elevator before

[@FloridianElevators]

Gage Williams They are rare to find!!! But when you find them, they are worth it!!

[@jacksonslaterelevatorraila6444]

I'm so riding this :)

[@QEElevators]

Just filmed this and the machine room for the main ones too, it’s still original but it doesn’t run too good sadly

[@DieselDucy]

sounds like the self leveling feature broke. this is similar to the one at Uhaul.... I rode a haughton like this in a very bad neighborhood in E. St. Louis.

[@FloridianElevators]

DieselDucy Difference is, this is an Otis, not a Haughton. And yes, the Self leveling feature broke I think.

[@FloridianElevators]

I saw your vid of the uhaul one!!! Amazing!

[@QEElevators]

@@FloridianElevators This one is so old it doesn’t even have a self level feature. That’s on Otis microdrives this just has 2 speeds, slow and fast

[@patrickrichmond9896]

THIS is an elevator. Well maintained and kept clean! Now for the controller crank, rather than pulling that grand looking thing out, I say just get some cleaner and some polish and a good scrubbing and buffing is all it needs. Some say these have to be modded because of ADA, but with my eyes, that crank is already at ADA level!

[@LittleRockElevators]

Streetcar1664 yeah but when elevators like these get modded, they get ruined with crappy fixtures.

[@mannyistheman2221]

They will never make an elevator of this quality ever again! You feel like your flying through the building when you ride that thing. I could probably commandeer this thing for several hours 😊😁.

[@elevatorsasansorler]

good

[@jacksonslaterelevatorraila6444]

Could I ride this ?

[@mjloveselevators]

OMG! We are trying to get in there! It has a security guard now 😢

[@QEElevators]

If you come one a weekend when the coffee shop is open in the lobby there is no security and the building is basically free rein

[@upanddownadventures]

The door sill is not from 1907 as far as I know (I think this type of door sill was first used in the 1930s). This could suggest the elevator originally had no car door/gate, but not sure. I don't know if other upgrades have been done since 1907 or not.

[@LiftyGamez]

Everyone in the industry knew that Otis used to overbuild their stuff so much until they would run forever. However, times have since changed and if they still did that today, they can't stay in business thanks to the quantity over quality belief. By installing more elevators so they can get more profits, the quality hence drops which is why some newer Otises aren't that great.

[@TheTheo58]

It was ascending pretty fast going between 600-799 FPM I am thinking it's a gear-less traction machine w/ 1:1 roping instead of a geared traction machine with 1:1 roping. Overhead gear-less are used in building with over 22-24 floors.

[@FloridianElevators]

TheTheo58 Yeah, this is DEFINITELY gearless!!

[@TheTheo58]

Very impressive, high speed express elevator for 12 floors, I have seen videos of gear-less machines in mid rise buildings with 2:1 roping to reduce the FPM. 1907 this was a DC Traction Machine still uses an MG set? Were the original gear-less machines retained in the modernized elevators? In the medical office I go to, there are six elevators 17 floors cabs are stainless steel, marble walls I am certain they are over gear-less 1:1 roping. By the speed they ascend and descend. I seriously doubt an MRL even though 17 floors is within the the height limitations, could handle the combined weight of the cab and passengers.

[@FloridianElevators]

This definitely uses a Motor Generator, no clue about the motors on the other elevators, I believe they were replaced.

[@QEElevators]

@@FloridianElevators My machine room video is coming out the 17th. The main ones have the original gearless machines and the service has everything fully original. Back when you filmed this, the Mckullan apartments had a working 1920’s Otis elevator up until 2017 when it got decommissioned sadly.

[@joaquinfernandesgarcia3269]

1:01 That's three then two and then one and the next one is basement

[@Clement-xy9iv]

But.... normally these with the crank full of switches used to have an auto-levelling ?

[@FloridianElevators]

This one did, but not all manual elevators have auto levelling. It broke on this one