Residential Dumbwaiters

The first dumbwaiter can be traced back many thousands of years. Since then, these devices have been used consistently to make it easier to move supplies throughout a multi-story dwelling. In many ways these devices are very similar to elevators, but unlike an elevator, a dumbwaiter is not designed to carry people. During the eighteen-hundreds and early nineteen-hundreds, almost all homes had a residential dumbwaiter. While there were some electrical or steam powered dumbwaiters in use in the later part of the eighteen-hundreds, most homes used manual dumbwaiters.

A manual dumbwaiter was the most common type of dumbwaiter to be used in homes for many years. During the medieval time, they often used horses or other live stock to power the dumbwaiter, but by the beginning of the eighteen-hundreds people generally relied on simple rope dumbwaiters. These devices made use of a pulley system to help reduce the amount of effort it took to raise or lower the lift.

The manual dumbwaiter would continue to be extremely popular during the beginning of the twentieth century, with one being found in almost every apartment building. Throughout New York and other large cities, dumbwaiters were essential to allow people transport their groceries and other goods to their apartment. They allowed for taller buildings, which was essential in places like NY where space is at a premium, without requiring the tenants to hike their groceries up ten flights of stairs.

While these early apartment dumbwaiters did greatly improve the lives of the tenants living in the buildings, they did present some difficulties. One of the most common was the theft of groceries as the dumbwaiter moved through the building. To combat this, locking doors were implemented, which locked while the dumbwaiter car was in motion.

Today, most larger apartment buildings now use elevators, so dumbwaiters are not as commonly available for tenants, but many do still use them for their maintenance services. Often a service dumbwaiter is installed for use in removing trash or moving building materials throughout the building, but these are usually only available to the apartment buildings employees.

While the popularity of apartment building dumbwaiters has decreased, they are still very popular in homes. Often, as a home is being built, the builder will install an electric dumbwaiter to help entice potential home buyers. They are also often installed into existing homes to make housework much easier. Manual dumbwaiters are still used and there are several companies that offer these types of lifts, but the electric dumbwaiter is much more popular.

There are several popular electric dumbwaiter kits that are inexpensive and relatively easy to install. The AmeriGlide Express Dumbwaiter is one such kit, which is commonly used in the home, but can also be upgraded for commercial use.