High-quality black-and-white photographs of large old machines and tools

[the harmonious blacksmith]

It reminds me of three freight elevators we had at our "old plant" we abandoned in 1977 when I built a new plant in Denver for Portadrill manufacturing company (formerly the Winter-Weiss Company) which ran off a block-long section of line shaft. They were installed in 1878! Originally there was a large steam engine that ran five blocks running everything for an early Denver company called McFinnity-McGee company which had a large millworks (wood), paint, glass & mirror works, and everything else imaginable. The company closed down in 1935 and the steam engine removed, and many sections of the line shaft removed for electric motors. I wish I'd been able to see that setup. Those elevators were in three sections of a long narrow building which was originally built in 1868 for the Denver-Pacific RR. The boiler was a 150 hp Kewanee "Portable boiler", meaning that it was a free standing locomotive style return flue boiler, not "bricked in". It was, along with a smaller boiler, used to heat the plant.

At my grandfather's and father's jewelry store near the Capitol building on Broadway they shared a basement with a luggage company, which was accessed with a hand operated freight elevator. A large 1 inch rope ran over about an 8 foot pulley which would lift an amazing load with some reduction gearing The luggage company used it a lot, our family's manufacturing/retail jewelry business had very little use for it. I didn't have much interest in the jewelry business but my much younger brother really has become a fine custom jeweler and has carried on the business my grandfather started in 1919.

As to a water powered elevator I never had anything to do with one but I knew of them. Yes, they were still around and they ran on city water pressure. Water was more plentiful before the city expanded to much. I did have some experience with an old church pipe organ that had a water powered blower! Ordinarily it couldn't be heard in the sanctuary unless a lot of stops were pulled using more wind.