Short Travel Commerce

Heavy lifting at the docks, and in the factories, with water hydraulic pressure was augmented by direct-action lighter capacity lifting in commercial establishments. Unroped plungers were practical for short travel that most often occurred in service between the basement and street level. The most basic direct-action piston lifted a lowly ash can, important in the era of coal burning furnaces for heat. The “sidewalk” plunger elevator took freight from the truck to basement storage and at first had little protection as the deliveryman loaded freight onto the platform and the store employee unloaded at the lower level. Control as simple a valve was utilized, at first operated with a lever, then a wheel and cable. Riders were discouraged. Later, the bow crosshead lifted the bi-parting, flip-up doors at the sidewalk to each side automatically as it rose. A car designed to rise above the street level to truck bed level obviously was a next step in the reduction of labor. Such a car necessarily had an extended understructure with guide shoes that allowed the extended travel. It also required a deeper pit. Eventually the direct-action hydraulic proved its worth inside commercial buildings. As personnel were more apt to ride such lifts, along with the cargo, safety railings, then gates, became important fixtures. The element of surprise, seen as important in the entertainment of earlier civilizations, was no less important as generations passed and the direct-action hydro played an important role in stage lifts -- as they do to the present day.