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Design and Prototype Construction of a Dumbwaiter (Book Lift)

Article in International Journal of Mechanics and Applications · April 2021

DOI: 10.5923/j.mechanics.20130301.05

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International Journal of M echanics and Applications 2013, 3(1): 31-34
DOI: 10.5923/j.mechanics.20130301.05

Design and Prototype Construction of a Dumbwaiter

(Book Lift)
O.K. Ajayi1,* , L.O. Adekoya2

1
M echanical Engineering Department, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
2
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract This work was done in response to the need of reducing drudgery in transporting books within the school
lib rary. This is because book shelves run through the length of the buildings as well as reading tables. The arrangement of
books are as such that the reader might need a book or material in another floor apart fro m the one where he is reading, this
reduces drudgery for the library attendants to shuttle between floors to get required materials to readers. A machine
otherwise called a du mbwaiter was thus designed having the capacity of lifting 100kg load. A prototype was constructed
and the performance evaluated with three ser of loads. The floor selection was controlled making use of limit switches
placed near each floor landing.
Keywords Du mbwaiter, Floor Selection, Limit Switches

Siemens in 1880[5]. A library is a collect ion of sources,

1. Introduction resources, and services, and the structure in which it is
housed: it is organized for use and maintained by a public
Library is the collection of books for reading or studying. body, an institution, or a private indiv idual. In the mo re
It is also the building or room in wh ich such a collection is traditional sense, a library is a co llect ion of books. The term
kept. In 1793, Ivan Kulibin created an elevator with the can mean the collection, the build ing that houses such a
screw lifting mechanism for the Winter Palace of Saint collection or both. Types of library are; national library,
Petersburg. In 1816, an elevator was established in the main research library, academic library, public library, school
building of sub Moscow village called Arkhangelskove and lib rary, special library.
in 1823, an “ascending room” made its debut in London. In Some of the more important lib raries include the
1874, J. W. Meaker patented a method which permitted following; the Bodleian Library at Oxfo rd, the Library of the
elevator doors to open and close safely as US Patent No. British Museum, the Mazarine Library in Paris, and the
147,853[1]. In 1929, Clarence Conrad Crispen, with National Central Library in Italy, the Prussian State Library,
Inclinator Co mpany of A merica, created the first residential the M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library of St.
elevator and he also invented the first inclined stairlift . Petersburg, amongst others[6].
The need for vertical transportation is as old as civilizat ion. Transportation inside the library has to be made more
The lifting of water was the first preoccupation of early convenient and efficient. This will also imp rove the library
humans as they entered the era of systematic agriculture. services such as; lending of reading and learn ing materials
Over the centuries, mankind has employed ingenious forms (books, tapes, CDs, thesis and others) as well as returning
of lifting. The earliest lifts used man, animal and water them, co llect ion and distribution of new books with proper
power to raise loads[2]. Nowadays, high-rise buildings are organization, handling and accounting for books in the
normally serviced by elevators, as the vertical traffic lib rary[6]. An elevator system for a two storey building
transport equipment[3]. There are several kinds of includes two carriages each of which is moveable fro m the
mechanis ms for vertically transporting people and goods; upper floor to the lower floor[5]. The earliest ones adopted
Lift or elevator depending on the country, dumbwaiters, the hoist, while recent ones make use of automatic safety
conveyors and cranes amongst others, to different floors or devices. Elevators consist of a platform or car travelling in
levels in a build ing or a mine[4]. vertical guides in a shaft or hoist way, with related hoisting
The first electric elevator was constructed by Werner von and lowering mechanis ms as a source of power. The
development of the modern lift made architects’ design of
* Corresponding author:
[email protected] (O.K. Ajayi)
mu lti-storey buildings practicable[4].
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/mechanics Parameters such as the elevator capacity and running
Copyright © 2013 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved speed must be confirmed during build ing design. This
32 O.K. Ajayi et al.: Design and Prototype Construction of a Dumbwaiter (Book Lift)

requires that the elevator traffic should be analysed Equivalent bending load = W b = σb × A (4)
reasonably[7, 8]. In 1852, Elisha Otis invented the first 2ℎ
t = � (5)
safety brake for elevators[9] and exhibited the lift equipped 𝑔𝑔
with a device known as “safety” to stop the fall of the car in Additional load due to acceleration;
the event the hoist rope breaks and gave impetus to lift Wa =
𝑊𝑊+𝑤𝑤
× 𝑎𝑎 (6)
construction[1]. The lifetimes of elevator control systems are 𝑔𝑔

typically 15-25 years, and the system architecture of the Effective load on rope during acceleration of load (during
currently operating elevator base is highly different than that first 0.6s after starting)
of the old one[10]. = W + w + Wb + Wa (7)
The first hydraulic industrial lift powered by water The comb ination of these equations determines the factor
pressure appeared in 1846[2]. The modern hydraulic system of safety. If the factor of safety is between the recommended
are found in scenic elevators in superstores or historical specifications, then it is safe to use the cable specification
buildings[11, 12, 13], stage elevators[14], ship elevators[15, fro m tables. The power required to drive the pulley is
16] and elevators for disabled persons[17] amongst others. Tω = (T1 – T2 ) n V (8)
Hydraulic elevators can be adapted to architectural design
requirements without compromising energy saving and 5. Gear Design
efficiency requirements[18].
The objectives of this project are to design and construct a The gear transmits the same power as the pulley. Once the
prototype of the machine that will vertically transport books power to be t ransmitted through the gear is known, the
fro m the ground floor of a mult i-storey library building to the torque acting on the pinion is calculated thus;
𝑃𝑃 ×60
upper floor to reduce the drudgery in vertically transporting T= Nm (10)
2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
books between the floors.
Then, the diameter of the gear is also determined using the
velocity ratio (V.R). The diameter of the gears was
determined through;
2. Design Considerations 𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
= 𝑉𝑉. 𝑅𝑅, (11)
𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
The design is for a device that can lift a load fro m one
the number of teeth thus: TG = DG / m (12)
floor to another floor, ground floor to any other floor in a 𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋 𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
two-storey library building. The pitch line velocity (V) = = (13)
1000 1000
The following considerations are necessary in determin ing 280
allo wable working stress; 49σw = 84 � � (14)
the suitable means of achieving this with their weights; Ease 280+𝑣𝑣
of installation in buildings especially already erected two for the outside diameter for the pin ion;
-storey library building (8), Noiselessness (5), Affordability: Do = Dp + 2a cos θ p1 = mTp + 2a cos θ p1 (15)
Parts and Construction (6), Safety for users (8), Reliab ility
and Efficiency (7), Ease of Operation (7), Ease of 6. Shaft Design for Pulley
Installation (8), Availab le Technology (9).
The following methods can be adopted; traction method, Due to the type of operation it would perform, it was
hydraulic system or the manual rope and pulley method. The decided that the pulley be made of cast iron: it should be able
traction method was selected fro m the outcome o f a Decision to absorb shock loads and should also be light enough and be
Matrix co mparing the three possible methods. tough. It would have two grooves to accommodate two steel
cable wire ropes passing over it. This is so that the load
would be distributed and not concentrated at a point and to
3. The Load Design also reduce the power required to raise the load. The sheave
diameter is designed to be fairly large to reduce the bending
The design load was calculated by taking a factor of safety
stresses in the ropes when they bend around the sheaves,
2 or 2.5 times the factor of safety given in tables thus; design
large d iameters fro m the tables would be used to give better
load = 12 x the weight of the (carriage + books)
and economical service.
Since the sheave is for a light service, cast iron is used.
4. Cable Design Fro m the table of reco mmended values for Km and Kt ; under
rotating shafts and suddenly applied load with minor shocks
Fro m the table of steel wire suspension ropes and the only: the combined shock and fatigue factor for bending (Km)
tensile strength for lifts, elevators and hoists; = 1.5 and the combined shock and fatigue factor for torsion
Counterweight (W C) = weight of carriage + 40 percent of (Kt ) = 2.0 while the transmitted torque is
𝑃𝑃 ×60
its capacity when fully loaded (1) T= (16)
2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
The torque to be transmitted by the pulley is The torque to be transmitted by the pulley is (W E - W C) x
(WE - W C) x radius of pulley (2) radius of pulley the power to required to drive the pulley
( 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 ×𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 )
Bending stress σb = (3) is
𝐷𝐷
 International Journal of M echanics and Applications 2013, 3(1): 31-34 33

Tω = (T1 – T2 ) n V (17) Table 2. Results for weight 0.390kg

The bending mo ment of this structure is needed in Floor Travel time (sec)
determining the diameter of the shaft; the equivalent bending
Ground to first 2.4
mo ment
𝜋𝜋 𝜋𝜋 First to second 2.5
(M e) = 𝜎𝜎b d 3; also, Te = 𝜏𝜏 d 3 (18)
32 16 Second to first 2.5
First to ground 2.3
Ground to second floor 4.6
7. Spring Design Second to ground 4.3
Twisting mo ment on the spring Table 3. Results for weight 0.770kg
𝐷𝐷 𝜋𝜋
(T) = W 2 = × 𝜏𝜏 × d 3
2 16 Floor Travel time (sec)
mean d iameter of the spring coil; D = 5 × 𝑑𝑑 Ground to first 3
outer diameter of spring coil Do = D + d
First to second 3
inner diameter of spring coil Di = D – d,
the number of turns of spring is calculated fro m the axial Second to first 2
8𝑊𝑊𝑊𝑊 𝐶𝐶 3 First to ground 2.1
deflection; 𝛿𝛿 = (19) Ground to second floor 5.6
𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺
free length of spring Lf = n’ d + 𝛿𝛿𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 + 0.15 𝛿𝛿𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 (20) Second to ground 4

Table 4. Results for weight 1.500kg

8. Floor Selection Floor Travel time (sec)

Ground to first 7
A set of sensors (micro switches) attached to the guide
rails near the landing of each floor serves as the floor First to second 6
selectors. As the carriage approaches the required floor, it Second to first 3
brushes over the switch, and this in turn puts off the prime First to ground 2.5
mover. The switches were bolted to angle bars in slots Ground to second floor 8
created on the left side of the carriage guide rail. Their Second to ground 5
operation is controlled by a central electric control panel on In Fig. 1, it takes the same time to ascend and descend the
one side of the machine. The circuit in the control panel ground floor through the second floor. It also takes the same
consists of relays, capacitors, resistors, switches and board time to descend second floor to first floor and the first floor
among other miscellaneous. to the ground floor. This is as a result of the Newton’s law of
motion.
9. Results In figs. 2, 3 and 4, there are d ifferences in most of the
travel times. In fig 2; it is only the travel between the second
The following are the results of the prototype constructed and first floor (descent and ascent) that is the same but in fig
and the tests carried out on it. 3, it takes the same time to ascend the first floor and also
Maximu m travel height =0.95m, Maximu m weight second floor.
transported =1.5 kg, Fig. 4 has the highest weight: it shows no similarity in
Travel t ime versus weights: This is presented in the time travel. At this weight, the dumbwaiter is actual getting
following tables; The tests showed that the speed of the to its capacity limit. Here, the time of travel has greatly
carriage as it ascends reduces as the load increases and increased compared to the previous lighter weights.
increases as it descends.
The time taken to ascend increases with the floor travelled.
This is caused by the Carriage dimension. 10. Conclusions
Table 1. Results for weight 0.33kg
The dumbwaiter (book lift) is simp le in operation and
Floor Travel time (sec) stress relieving as well as reducing drudgery in vert ically
transporting books between stairs in a mult i-storey library
Ground to first 2
building. The traction method used was very effective. The
First to second 1.8 floor selection design used was purely electrical, making use
Second to first 2.3 of limit switches placed at each floor. The design was for a
100kg weight, the shaft design was 50mm according to the
First to ground 2.3
required factor of safety for elevator design.
Ground to second floor 4
The constructed prototype was able to transport 1.5kg
Second to ground 4
mass through 0.95m which is the height for the second floor.
 34 O.K. Ajayi et al.: Design and Prototype Construction of a Dumbwaiter (Book Lift)

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