I finally got to check out the elevator at the old Grandview Hotel in St. Louis

Honestly, the thing that got me was the governor rope. It's this super thick, old school hemp rope, not a steel cable. I've only ever seen pictures of that setup in my old textbooks. The whole machine room was like a museum, with the original Otis drum machine from like 1910 still in place, though obviously not running. Tbh, it made me wonder how they even did adjustments back then without modern tools. Has anyone here actually worked on a system with a rope governor, or know where I could learn more about maintaining one?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandrat241mo ago

That rope governor thing shows how we've lost the feel for how stuff works.

miles_sanchez25d ago

Whoa, wait, an actual hemp rope governor in use? That's wild, I thought those were all ripped out decades ago. Ngl, that kind of old-school mechanical safety system is terrifying and fascinating at the same time. Honestly, I'd be scared to even stand near that thing knowing a frayed fiber is all that's between you and a drop.

danielr941mo ago

Yeah, @sandrat24 is right about losing the feel, but you can still find old Otis manuals online for rope governor maintenance.