Chapter 03 of 5
The Invisible Braking
Counterweights, governors and wedges: the safety systems you never see.
- Layer One
Many Ropes
The car hangs from several steel ropes, so one failing doesn't drop it.
- Layer Two
The Counterweight
A heavy counterweight hangs on the other end of the ropes. It's typically about the car's weight plus 40 to 50 percent of its full load.
- The Seesaw
Balanced Like a Seesaw
The counterweight balances the car, so the motor only has to move the difference in weight.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
Which device senses when an elevator is moving too fast and triggers the safety gear?
🛗 Who Stops the Elevator?
- 01A Lift Without a NetWhy nobody trusted a lift, and the brake idea that fixed it.
- 02All Safe, GentlemenThe stunt that sold the elevator, and the first lift in a shop.
- 03The Invisible BrakingCounterweights, governors and wedges: the safety systems you never see.
- 04Up and UpHow safe elevators raised skylines and flipped the value of the top floor.
- 05The Brain in the ShaftWhy elevators skip you, how dispatch systems think, and what comes next.