The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Upgraded elevator ready for public use
CROMWELL >> The renovation of the elevator in Town Hall has been completed ahead of schedule, officials said.
A two-man crew from the Otis Elevator Co. completed work on the $140,000 project on Friday. The crew spent five weeks at work on the project, which included a complete overhaul of the machinery in the 31-year-old elevator and renovation of the interior of the car.
Those five weeks included time out for two holidays, Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving, Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said Friday.
“So, this was definitely a very good job,” he said.
“I want to thank Otis and especially the town repairmen that were assigned to this project,” said Director of Public Works Louis J. Spina, who coordinated the repair project with Otis. The company was founded in 1853 by Elisha Otis, the man who invented the elevator.
Town officials were particularly impressed that at the end of each work day, the repair team would stow away all the tools and equipment they were using.
“They left the site immaculate,” Spina said. “I have nothing but praise for Otis and their personnel.”
The elevator was originally installed when the former Nathaniel White School was converted for use as a town hall in 1985. The elevator was not a typical traction lift.
“Traction elevators are lifted by ropes which pass over a wheel attached to an electric motor above the elevator shaft,” according to information on the website Archtoolbox, which describes itself as the “architect’s technical reference.”
“(Traction elevators) are used for mid- and high-rise applications and have much higher travel speeds than hydraulic elevators. A counterweight makes the elevators more efficient by offsetting the weight of the car and occupants so that the motor doesn’t have to move as much weight,” according to the website.
Instead, the Town Hall elevator is a hydraulic one. “Hydraulic elevators are supported by a piston at the bottom of the elevator that pushes the elevator up as an electric motor forces oil or another hydraulic fluid into the piston,” the site notes.
“The elevator descends as a valve releases the fluid from the piston. They are used for low-rise applications of two to eight stories and travel at a maximum speed of 200 feet per minute. The machine room for hydraulic elevators is located at the lowest level adjacent to the elevator shaft.”
A three-inch hydraulic pressure line that served the elevator had to be repaired, Salvatore said.
Once the project got underway, the town pressed for some additional work to be done as part of the overall plan, Salvatore said.
“The door rollers were wearing out and while they were not part of the original project, and still acceptable, we felt after 30 years they should be replaced,” Salvatore said.
That cost an additional $2,656, Spina explained. Once the renovation of the interior of the car was complete, “we were able to acquire the interior padding which we can use when we are moving large items,” the manager said.
Salvatore praised the response of residents, visitors to Town Hall and town staff for their patience during the repair project. The manager described the project as similar to the parking lot renovation/ expansion that was completed in the early fall.
“Once again, the community and our employees had to put up with some significant inconvenience,” Salvatore said. “We had no problems either with our staff or with our visitors. And, once again, we received no complaints in this area.”
Salvatore made a particular point of thanking a cadre of volunteers “who sat at a desk in the atrium (of Town Hall) nearly every day. They provided assistance to those visitors to the building who could not climb the stairs or who otherwise needed some form of assistance. And I want to thank them for helping out.”
Otis invented the elevator safety brake in 1853, according to Archtoolbox. “Before Otis’ invention, buildings rarely reached seven stories (elevators were considered just too dangerous to implement).
“But it was Otis’ elevator that would allow for the creation, and proliferation of, the skyscraper — an explosion that would forever alter the 20th- and 21stcentury skylines,” Archtoolbox says.
Otis elevators can be found in the Empire State Building and the Kremlin and on the Eiffel Tower, according to Wikipedia.
The company is now part of United Technologies.