The world's oldest, and coolest, elevator

 

It’s called a Man Engine. 

 

 

Installed in a calcite mine in Norway in 1881, it drops 900 feet.  And it’s still in use.  There is no elevator car that goes up and down.  It’s two side by side beams, reciprocating up and down maybe 10 feet each time.  These beams extend the entire 900 foot depth.  There are multiple platforms, just large enough for a man to stand on, attached to each column, and offset from each other.  (There are grab-bars to hold onto also.)  As you ride one platform down to descend, the platform on the adjacent column is coming up to meet you.  At the end of the stroke, the adjacent step will be right next to you.  You step across.  Then that column goes down while the other column brings a lower step up to meet you.  By stepping back and forth to each new step as it comes up, you end up descending the entire 900 feet.

 

Here is a diagram:

 

 

If you go here, you can see a gif of it in motion; men ascending.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_engine#/media/File:Man_engine_animation.gif

 

As dangerous as this seems, it was a great safety innovation.  Without the man engine, miners would have to descend ladders that 900 feet (90 stories), start their shift, work 8 or 10 hours, then climb the ladder out.  Fatigue related accidents on the climb out were a problem.  Besides that, the miner’s shift didn’t start until they reached the bottom.  The man engine decreased the commuting time on the ladder and increased productivity.