Restoring a 1919 Antique Elevator: A Friendship Project

[@Mantakev]

Amazing work. So sad to see this gentleman’s experience will one day be lost and no one will be able to replace him.

[@1834RestorationHouse]

It's always great to see retired experts come back out and work on ancient equipment. Those guys kept our pre-network economy running.

[@ronwilliams1094]

It’ll be a sad time in history when the last of these old-timers are gone and nobody knows how to work on these glorious old machines. I’m sure there will be a few young people interested in primitive industrial technology but they’ll be few and far between. 😢

[@brickandsole]

the interesting thing about him and Bob too is that they have such a broad area of knowledge. It boggles the mind.

[@Youviewer123]

When Neil said we will get hold of Hollister & Whitney, I was thinking good luck with that.. probably out of business years ago… So I looked them up & amazingly they’re still going 120 yrs later. It would be worth them sponsoring your elevator restoration for a bit of company heritage publicity. Love the videos.. born in 75 & completely relate to the 80,s thing & also wanted a warehouse to live in when growing up ( Glad I don’t now though )😂.

[@pskully57]

The suspense is killing me, but I'm glued and fascinated. This is the day we've been waiting for.

[@brickandsole]

I can't wait. (though By the time I am responding, 2 more episodes have been uploaded. Sorry for the late reply. )

[@bennetfox]

You are making me crazy by keeping me in suspense!! I am so excited to see the elevator move!!!

[@brickandsole]

Me too. It's going slow because I am boiling a whole day down to each single video. and it took us longer than we thought.

[@Jennifermcintyre]

Oh I’m so excited to see this!! The dream team is together to work magic!!

[@brickandsole]

it has been really fun and exciting!

[@AnnHinrichs-j8z]

Love seeing the place so full of people working. Was hoping to see it running…I guess coming in the future! Your blessed to have so much help,

[@brickandsole]

Yeah, it is just a matter of time now.

[@Davett53]

That 1900s era, 3 story warehouse, in Columbus, Ohio I rented my art studio in, for 14 years, had a really large freight elevator, with an absolutely ancient mechanism, and a simple electric motor. A small car, like a VW Beetle, could fit inside of it. It was raw inside, with open sides with only steel grates on the walls, and some panels of black painted steel. You could see the interior walls of the elevator shaft. To move the elevator car up or down, one had to manually pull a filthy cable, either up or down. The cable sat outside the car, and was accessed through a window in the car. Once an assist motor was switched on, pulling the cable engaged something, and the car would go up or down. To stop the elevator car, you had to lift the front safety gate up a few inches, when you observed the elevator floor, was parallel with the floor you wanted to exit to. Very sketchy, but it worked. I dreaded using that old freight elevator, and only used it when I needed to empty the trash from my studio. I let it accumulate, before it was worth the effort. I built furniture, so I eventually had enough wood scraps, bags of sawdust, empty spray paint cans, and other junk to make it worth while. Usually 6 months worth of trash. My studio space was approx. 1,200 square feet, the other artists in the warehouse, their spaces were almost double. With a 15 foot ceiling, I built a low headroom loft space, that I used to store my finished artwork, furniture, & raw materials. I moved in, in 1980. The great grandson of the warehouse builder, was our landlord. He shared his family stories about the building of the warehouse in 1901. All the history. He liked artists, and gave us an amazing deal on our rent. Plus he paid for our electricity, water and (steam) heat. And built 2 nice bathrooms, one was designed with a special stainless steel sink for the clay artists to use. We had 7 days & 24 hour access. We had two 1960s era refrigerators, and 3 ratty, but acceptable old couches. Some of us had projects that sometimes required us having to stay overnight. There were 3 medium sized electric kilns, that required overnight monitoring.

[@ronwilliams1094]

We had a building like that in Youngstown, Ohio albeit smaller. Bands and artists rented these big rooms for cheap and it was a little community. Sadly the building was sold to a large corporation that priced out all of the tenants. 😢

[@Davett53]

@@ronwilliams1094 There was a real momentum going on, all over Ohio. All the rust belt cities and beyond. Cleveland had the most old warehouses, and that area called The Flats, along the Cuyahoga River, had become a Mecca for artists of all sorts renting cheap warehouse space. I knew some bands who rented them, to practice in, as well. I visited several that were in Cincinnati, in their defunct industrial areas. Columbus never had that many, though they had one large complex, that had been part of their old Buggy Works, factories. The one I was in, had been surrounded by "light manufacturing" companies, not heavy industry. Ours did not need to be cleaned up, there wasn't any toxic left-behind materials.

[@Davett53]

@@ronwilliams1094 Yeah, that is how it gone for 30 years of my life. Artists find a run down cheap rent building, fix it up at their own expense, and make it appealing for people to meet at, this changes the surrounding neighborhood. The area becomes less scary, attracting more artist types, and musicians. It begins to thrive for a year or two,....and BOOM, sleazy exploitive building developers buy it for a song, kick all the artist's out, turn it into an un-affordable housing or gourmet dining. Raise the rent, so the artist's can't afford it. I was lucky to find my studio in 1980,...the area wasn't so bad, but 75% of the surrounding buildings had been torn down, and turned into SURFACE LOT PARKING. Wasteful open parking lots, surrounded our warehouse, was good for us, because at night they were vacant and empty. Hardly any bums or hobos lived close by, so it was rare to see another person at night. One or two would stumble out of the darkness, randomly begging for money,.....they must have been living in some of the abandoned buildings.

[@brickandsole]

the brown shoe in Sullivan il 30 minutes away does that. bands rehearse on the second floor.

[@Ragnar8504]

The rope probably moved some kind of control mechanism that turned the motor on and moving it to neutral would have switched it off. That "starter" mechanism controlled the direction of the motor (up/down) and possibly also engaged banks of resistors (like here) for a softer start because simply turning on a big motor is a heavy burden on the electric supply until the motor is up to speed (it's called inrush current). Catching the rope and letting go again before you move too far and send the car back the other direction is tricky though (yes, I've operated a lift ancient enough to have a control system like that). The lifts of that kind that I've seen had incredibly complex mechanical floor selector systems though, you didn't have to stop the car manually. Those were flashy passenger lifts though.

[@mcgjohn22]

very cool to see Neil working on all the connections.

[@brickandsole]

I learned a lot from him.

[@PTSDiy]

My day just got better seeing this video.

[@brickandsole]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@terismith3279]

You guys work together well!

[@kevinganje3356]

Extraordinarily cool that this is close to working, Chris! What a great team you have working with you! The episode ending before it was running was almost as great a tease as "who shot JR?"

[@brickandsole]

haha, yeah, its a cliffhanger for sure. thanks Kevin.

[@michaelpairidis7382]

This video will surely elevate the channels views 😂😂😂

[@richardvinsen2385]

Ba dum bum!

[@bobrobert9413]

We are trying to be at the top of our game 😁. Bob

[@brickandsole]

Up up and away.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

KZbin is for new friends.....and teamwork! Fantastic video

[@brickandsole]

You are so right, this channel has been amazing for bringing new friends and mentors into my life.

[@Leed216]

Gives new meaning to the dream team!

[@limelightcinemagroup2148]

Chris I'm glad you're seeing the elevator possibly be working that way you can finally clean out the Upper Floor😊

[@brickandsole]

Oh my gosh. Me too. Can't wait.

[@justnana2256]

I can't wait! ❤️👍🇺🇲

[@brickandsole]

Me too!!!!!!

[@mattd5757]

amazing.

[@jpalmer4099]

Thank you for sharing, I just love this video!

[@sparks869]

I hope Chris is writing down all the elevator maintenance for the long term. Might even be worth writing down some notes about any potential future failure points and fixes.

[@brickandsole]

lucky for me I have video logged notes!

[@sharlettedavidson81]

This very exciting to see this come together ❤

[@TheTheo58]

The part with the conduit in the shaft is the door interlock it's wired in series with the others ones if a door is open the elevator will not run. Also there is a mechanical locking pin to keep the door locked till it's on the landing. The cable hanging down is the traveling cable, generally there are two one for the COP (car operating panel) and 2nd for the light. You're likely to find upper and lower limit switches at the top and bottom landings.

[@brickandsole]

yeah, thats right we have bypassed them. only lower and upper limit switches will be left.

[@jacobcox198]

I WANNA SEE THIS WORK LET GOO TEAM WOOHOOO

[@brickandsole]

Thanks for the kind words and support!

[@bearhardcorepicker]

Major step forward!

[@brickandsole]

The pace is picking up finally!!

[@tlur8813]

Yes!!!! Getting it going!!

[@tete7958]

YAY!

[@Riverwalker44]

I’m back! Great video bro! Keep it up.

[@brickandsole]

Hey man, glad to have you.

[@elalva8497]

The suspense is palpable! You probably got it going by now, but is there a concern for the integrity of the cables?

[@bobrobert9413]

There are i believe 6 individual cables for redundancy. Bob

[@brickandsole]

Yeah, I guess all 6 would have to break, plus the break default position is on so they would have to fail too. So not likely that the car would fall.

[@mwolrich]

Cutting the elevator cable while standing in it, deserves a nomination to the Darwin awards (look it up, lol)

[@GlennShortell]

The guy who just about invented the modern elevator, Odus? Did the samething to prove how safe his elevator was in the Chicago World Fair in 1876. But still, it takes balls

[@marctorigiani4558]

Neil seems like a pretty sharp guy

[@cassandramiley387]

That's my grandpa he's pretty amazing!

[@brickandsole]

Totally agree! He's coming back in OCT/NOV if all works well.

[@mexakinick79]

Was Bob an elevator mechanic ?

[@philipdecatanzaro1822]

These old elevator machine rooms became so full of carbon dust. I've operated many buildings over my 50 year career and have a great respect for the older elevator techs that understand the relay and contactor systems. It's tough nowadays to find companies to work on these systems. If someone leaves the door open on another floor, the cab will not recall to the floor requesting service. People loose a lot of time trying to find the cab when they have to service the floor they are working on.

[@brickandsole]

Yeah it is really interesting for sure. That will be an unavoidable inconvenience, but I am sure it will be worth it just to have as a tool to get stuff out of the building. Also we are disconnecting the switches at each floor, and putting a safety at the top and bottom.

[@BIGD-lg1qd]

Chris, your place could be the coolest biggest haunted house in Illinois!

[@brickandsole]

You would not the first to suggest that! it would be awesome.

[@kimberlydavis2754]

I have a question if this elevator is only to be freight but the controllers for up and down are on the inside don't you have to hold the button or the down button for it to work

[@MrJeep75]

Yes

[@app-o-matix]

I had the same question, but forgot that you can load the elevator, close the doors, then take the stairs to the floor you are moving everything to and call the elevator from there.

[@kimberlydavis2754]

@@app-o-matix yeah but they said it's going to be manual so you have to hold the button and stop it on the floor they said they weren't going to hook up the call button yet

[@bobrobert9413]

You are correct you must hold the button inside the car. This is an easy fix by adding stations on each floor. That is if the elevator runs. 😉 Bob

[@brickandsole]

Bob got to this one before I did.

[@mwatkins2464]

Was hoping to see more in this video. Hopefully next time we can at least see some wiring or something working. Make sure you check all the loose cables for wear and pinch points that would have worn the insulation off the wires. I hope the windings were checked in the motor, would be sad to do all this and the motor doesn’t work. Good luck 👍🙏

[@bobrobert9413]

There is a motor and back up spare. Bob

[@bobrobert9413]

@@mwatkins2464 Thank you for your reply, sorry my response wasn't clear there is a working motor and a working spare that both run. Have a great day Bob

[@mwatkins2464]

@@bobrobert9413 I thought you were insulting me and calling me bob, well I’m sorry dude I shouldn’t have said what I did

[@bobrobert9413]

@@mwatkins2464 not a problem I wasn't clear in my post. Lol I should slow down and read before I post. Thanks for watching! Bob

[@brickandsole]

yeah, in a recently posted video you will see Neil actually re-did all my connections. I got to learn through the process but he went back and made sure they were legit.

[@aa999xyz]

you can rent a 220 generator to power testing purposes certain portions of the building

[@bobrobert9413]

@@aa999xyz there is 3 phase power previously ran to the elevator mechanical room.

[@aa999xyz]

@@bobrobert9413 I'm trying to think of alternative ways to get that power to the top of the elevator cheaper than running expensive wires

[@brickandsole]

well we already have it, but we will need to do a permit and have an electrician put in a 60 amp shutoff. Then it's all set, really nothing to buy. Which is exciting!

[@johnrichardson1949]

I happen to own an electronics company that specializes in the kind of controllers that could make your elevator work from your phone on wifi - all this ancient controller situation could be replaced with a board the size of a postage stamp - if you're interested I'm game!

[@bobrobert9413]

It sounds interesting. Bob

[@brickandsole]

hi, sorry for the late reply. If you send me an email at the address in the video description, I can get you in touch with Bob.

[@MrJeep75]

I would hook everything up like it supposed to be it there for a reason

[@brickandsole]

thats is what we are trying to do, but some parts are missing so we need to figure out workarounds.

[@MrJeep75]

@@brickandsole just switches

[@michiganjfrog5714]

♥

[@dagwood1327]

Norfork lake is about 30 miles from me.

[@brickandsole]

So you guys are practically neighbors.

[@richardvinsen2385]

I’d be interested to know how Neil found your videos. He doesn’t seem like the type to be surfing on KZbin.

[@brickandsole]

Not sure, but the reach of the whole KZbin thing has been pretty amazing so far.

[@josephpadula2283]

Elevator pits are required Now to have a sump pump that can remove 50 gpm. Not a bad idea to put one in ….

[@mexakinick79]

Was Bob an elevator mechanic ?

[@brickandsole]

Neil has done antique elevators in the past. Bob is jack of all trades.

[@Reaglesracing44_]

when is part two?

[@brickandsole]

sorry for the late reply. Two vids have now been uploaded since this one.

[@qthebikeahaulic]

I'm in Lakeview Arkansas, not 30 minutes from you, small world.

[@brickandsole]

That seems to be a hot spot, every people have mentioned the same thing. Cool.

[@RogerEbert-vy5pv]

Looks like no audio. At least on my end.

[@bobrobert9413]

I just watched it , it's working. Bob