So today’s question is:
How does the elevator get into the elevator shaft.

As best as I can tell, the elevator is built in the shaft.

Elevator installers and repairers—also called elevator constructors or elevator mechanics—assemble, install, and replace elevators, escalators, dumbwaiters, moving walkways, and similar equipment in new and old buildings. Once the equipment is in service, they maintain and repair it as well. They also are responsible for modernizing older equipment.

To install, repair, and maintain modern elevators, which are almost all electronically controlled, elevator installers and repairers must have a thorough knowledge of electronics, electricity, and hydraulics. Many elevators are controlled with microprocessors, which are programmed to analyze traffic conditions in order to dispatch elevators in the most efficient manner. With these computer controls, it is possible to get the greatest amount of service with the least number of cars.

When installing a new elevator, installers and repairers begin by studying blueprints to determine the equipment needed to install rails, machinery, car enclosures, motors, pumps, cylinders, and plunger foundations. Once this has been done, they begin equipment installation. Working on scaffolding or platforms, installers bolt or weld steel rails to the walls of the shaft to guide the elevator.

Elevator installers put in electrical wires and controls by running tubing, called conduit, along a shaft’s walls from floor to floor. Once the conduit is in place, mechanics pull plastic-covered electrical wires through it. They then install electrical components and related devices required at each floor and at the main control panel in the machine room.

Installers bolt or weld together the steel frame of an elevator car at the bottom of the shaft; install the car’s platform, walls, and doors; and attach guide shoes and rollers to minimize the lateral motion of the car as it travels through the shaft. They also install the outer doors and door frames at the elevator entrances on each floor.

For cabled elevators, these workers install geared or gearless machines with a traction drive wheel that guides and moves heavy steel cables connected to the elevator car and counterweight. (The counterweight moves in the opposite direction from the car and balances most of the weight of the car to reduce the weight that the elevator’s motor must lift.) Elevator installers also install elevators in which a car sits on a hydraulic plunger that is driven by a pump. The plunger pushes the elevator car up from underneath, similar to a lift in an auto service station.

But if anyone knows for certain, please let me know.

Why do I want to know this?

The North side of the building has permamently closed elevators. The elevators have not worked for as long as I can remember, but the signs on the elevator doors are different at different floors. On one floor “Out of Order” is spray painted onto the doors. On another floor there’s a sign taped to the door. On the ground floor lockers have been put up in front of the doors, solving the need for signs entirely.

But recently they’ve been working in the old shafts. It looks like they’ve pulled out all the cables and tracks, and put a grate floor in, although the doors are still elevator doors. (Whenever the doors are open, I try to get a glimpse into the shaft to see what is happening, but typically someone is working there (and I don’t want to bother them), or there are no lights and so I can see nothing in the windowless shaft.

I’ve even considered prying the door open some evening to get a better look, but my guilty conscience has so far gotten the better of me.

And I’ve always wondered whether the elevators are still sitting at the bottom of the shaft. Which led to the question, “if the elevators are gone, how did they get them out?” which naturally led to the question, “How did they get in there in the first place?”

So, I think I have an answer–they elevators are built in the shaft.

But I still want to get a good look at the empty shaft.

Just because.