How does an Elevator work?

Come learn how a traction elevator work! We'll also explore history and different types of elevators.

This video has been dubbed in over 20 languages, you can change the audio track language in the Settings menu (click the gear icon in the lower right hand corner of the video).

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⌚Timestamps:
00:00-Intro
00:23-History
01:16-Elisha Otis
02:22-After the Demonstration
03:04-Basic Parts
03:38-2 Types of Elevators
03:57-Hydraulic Elevators
04:40-Traction Elevators
06:24-Elevator Safety
08:28-Door Mechanism
11:01-Ending

🌐Internet Sources:

📘Book Sources:
Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator by Andreas Bernard

The Heights, Anatomy of a Skyscraper by Kate Ascher

🟠This animation was made with blender 3.4 (Cycles Render)

"Just A Dream" by CJ-0
"Light As Air" by Reveille
"Honolulu Beach Party" by Pala
A Night Alone by TrackTribe (YouTube Audio Library)

3D Models used in this animation:

The buildings from the beginning of this animation are from CG Cookie's course called "Cubicity"

🎧Here is some of the gear that I use for animation:

📼Video Summary:
The elevator (or lift) has been around for almost 2000 years now. Elisha Otis invented a safety mechanism in the 1850s that allowed for widespread use. After that, elevators because the core of most buildings. Hydraulic Elevators use a cylinder and a piston to push the cab up from underneath. Traction Elevators have a motor that pulls the elevator up using cables. The Door Operator opens both doors - the Cab Door and Hoistway Door. The Interlock is the mechanism that ensures that the Hoistway Door does not open until the cab is right behind it.

#b3d #elevator #lift

[JaredOwen]

I hope you found this video uplifting! Thanks for watching😎 (and putting up with corny jokes)

[d.o.m.]

I worked for an elevator company for 13 years, an excellent video, thank you for the time and effort you put into it.

[labradormcgraw]

Absolutely outstanding. No other animations on YT come close to this dude's work.

[NotWhatYouThink]

I knew elevators had some sort of a safety mechanism to stop the the cabin from falling, in case the cables snapped. But having watched your explanation of how it actually works, I feel a lot safer riding elevators! Thanks for putting all this hard work into educating us, @JaredOwen

[jimw]

Retired from the elevator industry about 10 years ago. You paint a thorough picture of how an overhead traction elevator works along with introducing correct terminology for its components. Great job.

[kenkioqqo]

As a huge fan of 3D, I can't help but notice the Blender easter eggs on the building. The modelling and animation in this video is stellar!

[stevejoubs]

From VCRs to elevators, and to space vehicles. You must have gained such an incredible amount of knowledge doing all the animations that you have done over the years.

[hcblue]

As a kid, I had these "How Things Work" books that will show a diagram of everyday objects and their internal mechanisms. I'd spend hours just imagining them from the static pictures on the books. Jared's videos tickle that same part of my brain as an adult.

[BlenderTimer]

The great thing about these videos is the animations are simple enough that you can see what's going on, but complex enough that you don't miss out on all the details. It's like the perfect middle ground. Great work as always!

[brettowen]

There's one additional safety measure in the event that the emergency brake doesn't work: a buffer (basically a large shock absorber) underneath the elevator cab and the counterweight. If the elevator doesn't stop before it reaches either the top or bottom of shaft, it'll impact the buffer and bring the elevator to a stop. So, you won't die from a freefall even if every other safety mechanism fails.

Side note -- you're also much more likely to "freefall" upwards rather than downwards if there aren't very many people on the elevator since the counterweight weighs more than an elevator with a few people. You can see videos on YouTube of elevators crashing into the ceiling rather than the ground.

[pateo]

I work on elevators everyday and this video is spot on with great info! All the essentials to get the basics and some advanced knowledge. We sometimes call the counter weight "THE WIDOW MAKER". Picture working in a unlit hoistway on top of a elevator cab 100ft up and a gigantic block of metal goes zooming by and all you hear is the whoosh of the wind.

[BradleyG]

The level of excitement I experienced before starting this video really demonstrates how well Jared does what he does. He does it so well I was genuinley excited to learn about how elevators work

[edbergeron]

Been installing these for almost 20 years, everything explained here is spot on.

[Indigenoustaino]

I really appreciate all of the animations and information you have shared with us and your 2:43 viewers. They are very well done and the information shared has taught me so much and I thank you much for that!

[thomasflanagan]

Jared, your Gift is your Ability to shed light on things we don't even think about... and you do it in a Pleasent, fun and entertaining way... not to mention your Computer animations are great

[davidhorner]

As an experienced elevator mechanic, I’m thoroughly impressed with your examination here, very well done. Your terminology is pretty well spot on, and I also noticed that you modeled some components of off real equipment I work on. The machine is a carbon copy of an Otis gearless machine, the door operator looks exactly like a Montgomery EZ operator, and the door hardware looks like GAL stuff. Well done, 10/10.

[maxsielemann]

I used to be very scared that there would be a huge failure in an elevator while im in it. After watching this video, it has 99.9% eliminated my fear of elevators and im very happy!

Thank you very very much Jared! 😊

[Otts]

4:43 The way you said "are you ready" made me feel so ready and eager to understand how elevators work. 😊 I feel like a little kid learning about new things. 😅

[Lacronh]

One of my hobbies used to be to go to the top of the world's tallest buildings (eg., Eiffel Tower, WTC, Funktum in Berlin, CN Tower Toronto, etc), so I've gotten to ride quite a few, and this was very interesting and informative. Thanks, Jared.

[Madhav.]

In my entire life I wondered, "How does an elevator works? " And now this guy came into my life like a GOD to clarify my doubt WITH animation. Thank you so much for your animations and teaching. I learned a lot from you. Please keep uploading this kind of videos.