How do elevators go up and down?
Flying by Cable
How do elevators go up and down?
You press a button, the doors slide shut, and suddenly you're lifting off the ground — rising through a building like magic. But elevators aren't magic. They're one of the cleverest machines humans ever built, and the secret is happening right above your head.
Here's what you don't see: thick steel cables, strong as bridge wires, stretch from the top of your elevator car up to a machine room. Those cables loop over a huge spinning wheel called a sheave — imagine a giant pulley the size of a dinner table.
