Hey Bonza,

Get a local architect, and a General Contractor. Oh, and a friendly
bank manager.

I can't speak to the ANSI Elevator and Lifts Codes, although there is
a strong slant to making them homogeneous, but the CSA B-44 Code here
in Canada runs to well over 400 pages, with additional supplements
for residential and handicap lifts. Plus Ontario has additional for
it's own jurisdiction (although a lot of that has to do with
enforcement), and each city or fire district will have specifics that
only a local architect will know/understand.

Even as a licensed skilled tradesman in the field, I still don't know
"WHY" some of the code/rules exist, but I do know that the great
proportion of them were written "after the fact"!! I also make it a
point not to get involved in discussions of "unlicensed" elevating
devices here in this forum, so this ends my contribution.

Take care. Seriously.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.

ps... get a spell checker. I don't mean that as a slight, but it
always makes one wonder about the capabilities of others to dabble in
fields in which they are not educated when they can't or don't even
spell well or carefully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


On 24 Aug 2004 11:26:44 -0700, (Bonza) wrote:

I have an talanted engineering group here at work. We design and
build equipment for in house use and a couple of devices that we sell.

To address a safety issue of carying parts and materials up to a
mezanine, we designed a dumbwaiter. There were a lot of constraints
such as missing electrical conduits, air ducts, roof girders, etc and
the guys came up with a good design. It had to fit, and met the needs
of the crew that would actually use it. Doors were located in the
right place (with interlocks) and the heights were right, and so on.

We started to build the unit and all was well until the city was
informed. Then red flags flew and we were told that we were
unqualified, not licensed, etc etc.

I have since contacted several manufacturers of dumwaiters and they
are not interested in either blessing our design, or providing a unit
that will meet the requirements.

In the meantime our safety guy is nervous everytime an operator climbs
the stairs with hardware and (hazardous) materials in hand.

Are there any PE's that have experience in lifts that would like to
consult? We are in central Illinois

Thanks,

Bob