Residential Dumbwaiters

The modern dumbwaiter, which today usually uses electricity, has roots that date back many hundreds of years. These early dumbwaiters laid the framework for today’s electric dumbwaiter.

In ancient times, dumbwaiters were often used in large castles and other dwellings that spanned multiple levels. In castles, this allowed the servants to quickly and easily move food or other supplies around the castle. Without them, the kings food could become cold before being brought to him. Also many castles had very long and winding staircases, which made carrying anything up them both difficult and dangerous.

Typically manual dumbwaiters were used, but in some cases an animal or water power was used to lift the dumbwaiter car. Even the manual lifts made use of a pulley system, which allowed items to be sent quickly between floors, while requiring less physical effort.

By the middle of the eighteen-hundreds, the dumbwaiter was used in many businesses and homes throughout the country, but much of the innovation for these devices took place in New York. It was here during the industrial revolution that the first passenger elevator would be developed, as well as hydraulic dumbwaiters and steam powered dumbwaiters.

The father of the elevator, Elisha Otis, was responsible for many of the advances in dumbwaiter and elevator technology. While overseeing the construction of a large manufacturing plant, Otis was subjected to several dumbwaiter failures. All it took was a broken rope and the dumbwaiter would come crashing down, sometimes seriously injuring a worker or destroying supplies.

Otis set out to solve this problem and devised a spring loaded brake system. In the even of a rope failure, a set of spring powered spikes would be released. The spikes would be propelled into the dumbwaiter shaft, which would prevent it from falling. This solved his problem, so he went back to supervising the construction of the facility.

After the facility was complete, Otis was prepared to head to California to do some gold mining, when he was approached by someone who was interested in his dumbwaiter brake system. Being a shrewd businessman, Otis realized that his invention had great potential and he began manufacturing commercial dumbwaiters. Over the next thirty years, Otis would be responsible for many advances in elevator and dumbwaiter technology and eventually developed the first passenger elevator.

Otis was not the only one that led innovation during this time and together with several other inventors, the electric dumbwaiter would take shape. By the beginning of the twentieth century, electric dumbwaiters had become much more common. Although for very heavy loads, the hydraulic or steam powered dumbwaiter was usually used.

Dumbwaiters would also remain very popular in homes for much of the twentieth century. With the development of apartment buildings in large cities, like Chicago and New York, during the 1920’s, a need to easily moves goods between floors developed. This resulted in almost all buildings in large cities containing some form of manual or electric dumbwaiter.

Today, the electric dumbwaiter is very popular not only in businesses, but also in homes. Dumbwaiter kits can be used, which can be fit into most existing homes, and can be installed quickly. Custom built electric dumbwaiters are also very common, offering the advantage of better space usage and more features.

While the electric dumbwaiter is more common, some people still opt for a manual dumbwaiter. They do not offer the same convenience or lifting power that is offered by an electric dumbwaiter, but are less expensive and can be built by a handyman.

A dumbwaiter is used in many businesses today. They provide a means of moving goods throughout a building quickly and easily. With a history that dates back thousands of years, the dumbwaiter has long played an integral part of the business world.

Some of the earliest commercial dumbwaiters were used in construction. They were heavily used during the construction of buildings in New York and other cities. In fact, it was on a construction site that the idea behind the safety elevator was born.

Elisha Otis, who is often called the father of the elevator, was always a tinkerer and mechanic. After working as a mechanic at a bed manufacture for several years, he was given the opportunity to oversea the construction of a new manufacturing plant. Dumbwaiters were used extensively, but they presented some safety concerns, which largely revolved around the dumbwaiter rope breaking. A faulty rope would cause the dumbwaiter car and whatever it was carrying to come plummeting to the ground. At the very best, this would result in lost productivity and damage to property, but it could just as easily cause great harm to the workers.

Otis decided to develop a way of preventing these accidents and developed a safety device that stopped the dumbwaiter from falling. Large spikes were placed on the top of the car and kept in place with springs. In the event of a rope or cable breakage, the springs would be instantly released and forced into the dumbwaiter shaft. This would stop the car from falling and helped to prevent accidents.

By the time the construction of the factory was complete, other businesses had taken notice of Otis’s invention. He began manufacturing lifts for other businesses and eventually would go on to invent the first passenger elevator and was a pioneer in the industry, developing many innovations that are in some regards still used today.

Today, dumbwaiters still usually incorporate a safety device to prevent falls, but they do not us the spike stops. Instead, a track system is usually used and breaks are used to lock onto the track in the event of an emergency.

The dumbwaiter is used in many industries and remains an integral part of many manufacturing plants. They are also used in hotels, hospitals, restaurants, and libraries. There are many cases where a dumbwaiter can greatly improve the work process of employees, so they are often used to reduce labor costs.

Another advantage is that they are sometimes held to lower standards in regards to city and state zoning laws. Since it is not used to lift people, they often require less paperwork than an elevator would, but this depends on the city and the state, so it is very important to always check your zoning laws before installing a commercial dumbwaiter.

The dumbwaiter has been very popular for hundreds of years. In fact, they can be traced back to around 230 BC, which was the times of the Romans. This was the first recorded notation of a dumbwaiter, but it is very likely that they were used by other cultures before this as well. After the Roman Empire, there are records of nearly every culture using a dumbwaiter in some shape or form.

Often animals were used to do the actual lifting, but this was only in larger settings. Smaller dumbwaiters were operated manually and these manual dumbwaiters sometimes consisted of only a rope and a wooden shelf or tray.

During the seventeen-hundreds, the Russians made several innovations to the dumbwaiter and by the end of the eighteen-hundreds, there were electric, steam powered, and hydraulic dumbwaiters in use. These were very popular in commercial settings, but most homes also had dumbwaiters.

The electric dumbwaiter, while found in some residences, would not become popular or affordable until the twentieth century, so the manual dumbwaiter was much more common. Almost all homes had a dumbwaiter of some shape or form. They were used to allow items to be quickly and easily be sent between floors in the home.

Virtually all homes had a dumbwaiter of some shape or form and most apartment buildings also used them. These allowed the tenants to easily transport their groceries to their apartment, which was often several floors up. In big cities, like New York, space is and always has been at a premium for space. As a result, some of the tallest biggest buildings are found in these types of cities. Without the dumbwaiter, individuals in these cities would have had a much rougher time during the early twentieth century.

Today, the electric dumbwaiter has largely replaced the manual dumbwaiter in both residential and commercial settings. Several kits are available for the consumer that are designed to be installed relatively easily. It still requires a good knowledge of construction, so most homeowners opt for a professional installation, but since they are designed to be quickly installed, the installation costs are usually reduced.

Some people do still opt for a manual dumbwaiter though. These have the disadvantage of not being able to support as much weight as electric dumbwaiters and, since they are human powered, they require much more effort to operate. These dumbwaiters are often custom built using pulleys and wenches, but there are also a few companies that sell manual dumbwaiter kits.

The dumbwaiter offers a powerful lifting tool that has stood the test of time. There are only a few items that remain as similar today as they did a thousand years ago. In many ways, the dumbwaiter has aged as well as the wheel. Both have been greatly improved since they were first introduced, but they still are in some regards very much like their early predecessors.

The Dumbwaiter: A Brief Introduction

The dumbwaiter is a lifting aid that has been used by humans for thousands of years. People all over the World have used them extensively to help move items around their home or place of business.

Early dumbwaiters utilized human or animal power, but by the eighteen-hundreds, most commercial dumbwaiters were using steam, electric, or hydraulic power.

How Do Dumbwaiters Work?

A dumbwaiter works much like an elevator. A vertical shaft is required to span between floors and the dumbwaiters car moves up and down the shaft. The car refers to the part of the dumbwaiter that actually holds the goods and can be as simple as a wooden platform or can be a completely enclosed box.

Usually a metal track is installed along the length of the dumbwaiter shaft, with the car moving along the track. Rollers keep the dumbwaiter smoothly and leveling moving along the track, with some rollers also including a built in brake system.

In some cases, the rollers on the bottom of the car are powered, although in many commercial dumbwaiters the pulley system mounted to the top of the dumbwaiter shaft, which can allow for a greater lifting capacity.

While similar to elevators, it is important to note that dumbwaiters are not intended to carry humans and instead should only be used to transport non-living materials.

What is a Commercial Dumbwaiter

Commercial dumbwaiters are much more powerful than a residential dumbwaiter. They often have a much larger lifting capacity, can include more stops along the dumbwaiter shaft, and can travel over larger distances.

Metal dumbwaiter cars are very popular, with many also including full metal shafts. In some industry’s, such as shipping, the metal car and shaft is required due to fire regulations. It also allows for more support and durability. In the restaurant industry, insulated dumbwaiters with in shelves are very popular.

In addition to being much stronger and more durable, commercial dumbwaiters are also designed to meet local building codes and fulfill safety regulations.

Where Are Commercial Dumbwaiters Used

There are many businesses that make extensive use of commercial dumbwaiters, including libraries, restaurants, and hospitals.

The shipping industry has also extensively used dumbwaiters for many years. In the early sailing times, simple rope and pulley dumbwaiters were used, but by the beginning of the twentieth century, electric and steam dumbwaiters had become very popular. These were used to move items throughout the ship quickly and easily. Since, on a ship, space is usually very limited, a dumbwaiter could provide essential to the movement of food and dishes from the galley to the dining room.

Similarly to their use in a ships galley, they are also very popular in many multi-story restaurants. They allow food to be brought to the guest while it is still hot, without putting extra strain on the waiters. Dirty dishes are also taken care of in the dumbwaiter, which otherwise would require carrying the dishes down the stairs, which would be impractical on a large scale.

Other Kinds of Dumbwaiters

Dumbwaiters are also very popular in homes.

The manual dumbwaiter is still found in some homes, but the electric dumbwaiter is beginning to be much more common. These provide a means of moving things like groceries or laundry instantly throughout the home. They are also an attractive item to prospective home buyers, so more and more builders are including these in their designs.

Finding a way to increase productivity is important around the home and especially in commercial settings. Carrying items between floors can not only be hard on the body, but in the case of people who are mobility challenged, it can also increase the risk of a fall. To help around the home, many people choose to install a special type of elevator called a dumbwaiter.

While a dumbwaiter falls into the elevator family, it is usually much smaller and not made to carry people. Instead dumbwaiters are designed to move things like laundry or food around a multistory building. These devices date back several thousand years, but the electric dumbwaiter is relatively new. The electric dumbwaiter was first developed in the late eighteen-hundreds, but it wouldn’t be until the middle of the nineteen-hundreds that these devices would become readily accessible in residential settings.

Today, more and more homes are opting to install an electric dumbwaiter. They are easiest to install if they are added to a home as it is being built, but several popular kits are also available for retro-fit situations.

When doing a retro-fit installation, usually the hardest part is finding a space for the dumbwaiter. This is not a problem in new construction, because the dumbwaiter shaft can be built into the home, but in an existing home, finding a space for the shaft can prove difficult. The shaft refers to the vertical space between floors that the dumbwaiter will move through.

The car, which actually transports the items between floors, moves vertically up and down the shaft. Most are attached to a track that runs the distance of the shaft. The track helps to keep the car steady and balanced. Most dumbwaiters can support around a hundred pounds, but commercial lifts and some residential lifts can support much more weight than this. It is possible for the dumbwaiter car to open up on different sides, so this makes finding a space for the shaft easier.

Once you have a space that the dumbwaiter can be installed into, it will be necessary to install the drive system and shaft. Most use a cable drive system, that raises or lowers the lift on a strong steel cable. Some kits come with the car and drive system already assembled onto a short length of track. This piece of track can then be installed into the top of the shaft and about half of the installation can be completed at once. This reduces the time and makes the task of aligning the drive system very simple.

Installing and using a dumbwaiter in the home is a great way to make it possible to move items quickly throughout the home, without strain on the body or concerns about falls.