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Dumbwaiters are devices that have been around pretty much since mankind stopped living in caves. They were used by the ancient Egyptians and were found in all castles during the Medieval Times. Today they are found in homes and businesses alike and are very popular. They are also very common on larger ships and this has been the case for some time, dating back hundreds of years. One ship that had a dumbwaiter was a steam yacht called the Marietta, which was built during 1893.
The Marietta was built for a man by the name of Harrison B. Moore, while relatively small, was a top grade steamer. It was designed by Henry J. Gielow, who was a well known and respected Naval Architect. The steel hull of the Marietta extended for 113 feet and a very powerful 500 horse power steam engine that allowed the Marietta to reach speeds of around 18 miles per hour. She was also fully rigged with sails.
Gielow cleverly made use of all of the space available and outfitted it with several large cabins. In addition to the large cabins, a saloon with sofas and a buffet was also added. Using curtains the saloon could be divided and the sofas turned into births to provide additional sleeping quarters.
The Marietta made use of several dumbwaiters to connect the saloon, pilothouse, and galley. These dumbwaiters made it much easier to service the boat and allowed for a smaller crew.
Dumbwaiters are a type of elevator that has been used for many hundreds of years. They can be found in many homes today, and for the past century, dumbwaiters have been used extensively in hospitals, libraries, restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, and many other places.
A dumbwaiter is usually smaller than a traditional elevator and is not intended to be used by people. While smaller than regular elevators, some commercial ones, like the ones you might find at a manufacturing plant, can be very big and powerful. Many hospitals make extensive use of dumbwaiters and in the early 1920’s, the Fifth Avenue Hospital got a major renovation, including an upgraded dumbwaiter system.
The hospital was designed to be very athletically pleasing and comfortable for its patients. It was in many ways the opposite of what you would expect of a hospital at the time. The reception area was carefully designed to eliminate hospital smells and sights, so that the patient could feel more comfortable. Using great care, sound-proof walls and improved ventilation systems were used to allow for an almost absence of hospital noises.
Upon checking in each patient receive their own room and the floors were set up in a very innovative design, that would change the way hospitals were built and managed. An ‘X’ shaped floor plan was used to improve the way nurses and supervisors could manage the floor. At the middle of the ‘X’ was a control station that could view all four corridors and better respond to patients needs.
To carry food and other supplies throughout the hospital, electric dumbwaiters were used. Starting in the basement, each floor had its own service room, with a set of buttons to control the dumbwaiters. These dumbwaiters were able to greatly improve the productivity of the nurses, which in turn improved patient care.
Dumbwaiters have been popular for many hundreds of years. They were used in castles in the middle ages and even by the Egyptians. Their popularity during the early 20th century is well documented and they were found in almost all apartment buildings. Most homes with multiple stories also had a dumbwaiter. By 1915, many companies had begun to make use of electric dumbwaiters as a means of conveniently and quickly transporting goods. One of the first electric dumbwaiters was installed into a Chicago department store and used to move packages from the delivery room to the store.
The storeroom of the store, which was located in the basement, was responsible for transporting goods throughout the rest of the store. Items that were sold also passed through the basement and were transferred to the shipping department. Without an efficient system, the work for the employees would have been very physically demanding, so the company decided to install 5 electric dumbwaiters.
The eight story department store made good use of these dumbwaiters, with two specifically dedicated to the shoe department, two spanning the entire eight floors, and one that serviced the mezzanine floor.
The two dumbwaiters that spanned the entire height of the building were controlled from the seventh floor, but each floor had a call button located by the shaft. When the call button was activated, the operator on the seventh floor moved the elevator to the desired floor. It was the responsibility of the operator to make certain that the dumbwaiter completed its task before moving to the next floor. The other dumbwaiters were controlled automatically by their call buttons.
These systems were very advanced at the time and incorporated some of the safety features that are common today. This includes systems that detected objects in the dumbwaiters path and stopped the dumbwaiter if an object was detected. Special sensors were also used that prevented the dumbwaiters from being operated if the door was opened.
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