Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1890 — A Novel and Cheap Elevator. [ARTICLE]

A Novel and Cheap Elevator.

A Berlin inventor has devised a «lnypie and inexpensive elevator for private dwelling's, in place of the ordinary staircase, which may suggest to some inventor a better means of accomplishing tne same object. The Berlin invention is on the same principle of the inclined railway, and the motivq power is the city water which is applied in the cellar; each flight, has its separate chair, so that for example, one can ascend from the first to the second story while another is on his way from the second to the third, or still another is descending from the fifth to the fourth. 'I he chair being only of the width of the human body, leaves a free passage for any one who wishes to walk up or down instead of riding. It is set in motion by a simple pressure of one of its arms, and after it has been used it slides back to the bottom step, its descent being regulated in such a manner that the passenger is carried with entire safety. The motive power is, of course, more or less expensive, according to the cost of water, this being, it is stated, at the rate of a little more than one-tenth of a cent puly for each trip.—Scientific American.