Steam-powered elevator - photos

[Altair]

Steam-powered elevator in the house of Guard Captain S. Muyaki in St. Petersburg, Russia.
















Previously:

Paternoster lift - video
100-year-old wooden escalator at Macy's - GIF
Escalator consumes person - GIF

[Frank S]

the ironwork on that is amazing if all else fails it could be used as a Faraday cage

[bruce.desertrat]

I'm with Frank S., that ironwork is stunning throughout.

[Gromet]

So- as the steam gradually condenses, the car/floor levels slowly come out of alignment when the car is "upstairs"?

[Frank S]

So- as the steam gradually condenses, the car/floor levels slowly come out of alignment when the car is "upstairs"?

This would be a difficult call to make given we do not have any particulars of the mechanism's used.
If we were to assume a simple piston in a cylinder with no restraining devices at elevation, then yes it would settle and drift back to the lowest level If it were a turbine driven windless draw-work using cables and counter weight then it would remain in place possibly through gear reduction or a more conventional positive braking which required pressure to release.
There is just not enough information

[Scotsman Hosie]

So- as the steam gradually condenses, the car/floor levels slowly come out of alignment when the car is "upstairs"?

It may not be driven by simple hydraulics. Since high pressure boilers were quickly abandoned for relatively low pressure requirements of most steam engines. As Frank S indicated, there is way too little information, to determine much of anything about it. But it's great weight – and seating capacity, could be indicative of a basement level steam engine, powering a chain – or even gear – drive, of some sort.