(Schippert has two remotes—one in his pocket and the other hanging in the cab.) Built almost entirely from spare parts in the shop, the elevator expense equaled the cost of a new winch from ...

The early ones used simple winches to hoist a platform and cage with miners and ores out of vertical mine shafts or moving items up to the top of towers like in a castle. Later, steam power was used ...

The mechanics are simple: Enter a tall building, unlock a set of elevator doors, hop down onto the roof of the elevator cab waiting below ... rope to the hook at the top of the lift shaft ...