Combined on Bedplate In the mid-1800s, the elevator machine was well on its way to becoming a package! Early in the Steam Power Age, lifts(s) had been the "tail on the dog", at the gar end of line shafts that drove hundreds of mill machines. Gradually, as we have seen, elevators became more important within commercial and private establishments, lifting both freight and passengers and warranting individual steam power plants, or the major use of one. The connecting belts grew ever shorter until steam engines came within sight of the reduction gearing; then next to it within the same machine room. Engineers had the obvious thought; why not mount as much equipment as possible on one bedplate, making the drive machine more utilitarian, economical and space efficient for the manufacturers and owners, as well as more practical for the on-site maintenance man. In this era, scheduled maintenance by an elevator company was not even a gleam in any manufacturer's eye! An important era emerged in which the unification of the power and drive machine took place accompanied by the gradual additional of a few more control and safety devices.