It took some time for it to come together, and, of course when it did, I was out of the country. I followed progress with emails and photos from our long patient and ever helpful "Elevator Man", Hal Bayley.
Meet the installers: on right, lead technician Perrie Barckley, and his assistant, Alan Hansen. Out of sight, behind the camera, is said overall coordinator, Hal Bayley.
Step One: Place temporary plank platforms at the first and second levels, so as to install the rails from Ground Level to the top of shaft. Lasers must make it a lot easier to do that! Here looking down from 2 past 1 to Ground.
Maybe this is where the term "spot on" comes from?
At the Ground Level, the base of the "fork lift" was the first piece to be assembled and attached to the rails.
Part way up the shaft is the top of the piston sleeve, and the piston itself.
Meanwhile, in the adjacent mechanical room, the hoses and wires and controller, and, and, and were installed.
Add those hoses and wires and what all in the shaft, and things get complex.
Before constructing the cab, the temporary planks were removed, and the "forks" tested.
Looking down from 2 past 1 to Ground, the floor of the cab is being attached to the "forks".
Sometimes spaces can be tight! and access limited. This is at the top of the shaft.
Sometime later, with the cab erected, the wiring and lights on top were added.
At all three levels an inter-lock was installed which prevents a door from opening if the elevator is someplace else.
With the hallway door open, the sliding elevator door (or "gate" in the old days) is exposed.
Opening it, the call buttons, grab rail, and telephone box can be seen.
With everything in, final hook ups and testing and inspections were done. But as Boeing discovered with the 787, even with all that, something might go wrong. When Charlie first used it, moved a few inches, and then came to a stop. And not move. Same thing happened to me. Too bad, it was late, cold and raining and we had to unload the old fashion way, up and down the outdoor stairs. Next morning I got it going, and tested, and found out where it happened, and what to do to get around it. (Did not figure out why it happened. Perrie is going there soon to determine and correct that!) But it was sure nice to have for moving things up and down or to just get from one level to the other without going out into the rain.