ELEVATOR AND ESCALATOR FINAL
EXAM AND ALL CORRECT ANSWERS
2026 UPDATED.
Elevator - Answer A moving platform or cage for carrying passengers or freight from one level
of a building to another.
Oil-hydraulic elevators - Answer An elevator system consisting of a car supported by a piston
that is moved by or moved against a fluid under pressure.
Electric elevator - Answer An elevator system consisting of a car that is mounted on guide rails
supported by hoisting cables, and driven by electric hoisting machine.
Lift - Answer The British term for elevator.
Passenger elevator - Answer An elevator for the exclusive use of passengers.
Freight elevator - Answer An elevator for carrying heavy cargo, on which the operator and the
persons necessary for unloading and loading the freight are permitted to ride.
Dumbwaiter - Answer A small elevator for conveying food, dishes, or other materials between
the floors of a building.
Bank - Answer A row of elevators in a high-rise building controlled by a common operating
system and responding to a single call button.
Rise - Answer The vertical distance traversed by an elevator car from the lowest to the highest
landings of the hoistway
Penthouse - Answer A structure housing an elevator machinery on the roof of a building.
Top car clearance - Answer The vertical distance from the top of an elevator car to the nearest
overhead obstruction when the car platform is level with the top landing.
Hoistway - Answer A vertical enclosed space for the travel of one or more elevators.
,Landing - Answer The portion of a floor adjacent to an elevator Hoistway, used for the
receiving and discharge of passengers or freight.
Elevator car safety - Answer A mechanical device for slowing down and stopping an elevator
car in the event of excessive speed or free fall, actuated by a governor and clamping the guide
rails by a wedging action.
Hoistway door - Answer A door between hoistway and an elevator landing, normally closed
except when an elevator car is stopped at the landing.
Elevator pit - Answer The portion of a hoistway extending from the level of the lowest landing
to the floor of the hoistway.
Bottom car clearance - Answer The vertical distance from the floor of an elevator pit to the
lowest part of an elevator car platform when the car rests on fully compressed buffers.
Bulkhead - Answer Boxlike structure on a roof providing access to a stairwell or an elevator
shaft.
Hoist-way machinery - Answer For raising and lowering an elevator car; has motor-generator
set traction machine, speed governor, brake, drive shaft, driving sheave and gears.
Control panel - Answer Contains switches, buttons and other equipment for regulating
electrical devices.
Driving sheave - Answer A wheel or disk with a grooved rim, used as pulley for hoisting.
Idle sheave - Answer A pulley for tightening and guiding the hoisting cables of an elevator
system.
Machine beam - Answer One of the heavy steel beams supporting the hoisting machinery for
an elevator.
Hoisting cable - Answer One of the wire cables or ropes used for raising and lowering an
elevator car.
Guide rail - Answer One of the vertical steel tracks controlling the travel of an elevator car or
counterweight.
,Traveling cable - Answer One of the electric cables connecting an elevator car to a fixed
electrical outlet in the hoistway.
Counterweight - Answer A weight balancing another weight to counterbalance the load placed
on the hoisting machine by an elevator car.
Limit switch - Answer Automatically cuts off current to an electric motor when an object
moved by it has passed a given point.
Buffer - Answer A piston or spring device for absorbing the impact of a descending elevator
car or counterweight at the extreme lower limit of travel.
Machine-roomless elevators - Answer The revolutionary elevator system is based on the first
major breakthrough in lifting technology in nearly 100 years. Designed for buildings between
two or 30 stories.
Gearless traction elevators - Answer Otis introduced the design that would become the
standard in the elevator industry. These elevators typically operate at speeds greater than 500
feet per minute.
Geared traction elevators - Answer The electric motor in this design drives a gear type
reduction unit, which turns the hoisting sheave. These elevator typically operate at speeds from
350 to 500 feet per minute and carry loads of up to 30,000 pounds.
Main brake - Answer Mounted directly on the shaft of the elevator machine. And the elevator
is first slowed down by dynamic braking action of the motor and the brake the operates to
clamp the brake drum, this holding the car still at the floor.
Safety switch - Answer Designed to stop an elevator car automatically before car speed
becomes excessive.
Electric final limit switches - Answer Located a few feet below and above safe travel limits if
elevator car. These switches de-energizes the motor and sets the main brake.
Oil or spring buffers - Answer Are placed at the bottom of the elevator pit, not to stop a falling
car, but to bring it to a partially cushion stop if the car should overshoot the lower terminal.
Lantern - Answer A light, usually over the entrance to an elevator on each floor of a multistory
building that signals the approach of the elevator.
, Annunciator - Answer A signaling apparatus in an elevator car or at a landing that displays a
visual indication of floor landings.
Call button - Answer A push button for requesting an elevator.
Door interlock - Answer A safety device for preventing the operation of an elevator car unless
the hoistway door is locked in the closed position.
Door contact - Answer A safety device for preventing the operation of an elevator cat unless
its door or gate is fully closed.
Dumbwaiter - Answer A small elevator for conveying food, dishes, or other materials between
the floor of a building.
3 ft. X 3 ft - Answer Size of hoistway.
2 ft x 2 ft 6 in - Answer Size of car.
Escalator - Answer A power driven stairway consisting of steps attached to a continuously
circulating belt, used for moving passengers up and down between floors.
32" and 48" or 800 and 1200 mm - Answer Width of escalator.
30 degrees - Answer Angle of inclination.
90 fpm and 120 fpm - Answer Speeds of the escalator.
Emergency stop switch - Answer In emergency, push this button to stop the escalator.
-in abnormal conditions caused by step deformation.
Step yellow frame - Answer A sign indicating the safe location where the passenger should
stand.
Skirt panel safety switch - Answer When something is stuck between the step and the skirt
panel, the escalator will stop.
EXAM AND ALL CORRECT ANSWERS
2026 UPDATED.
Elevator - Answer A moving platform or cage for carrying passengers or freight from one level
of a building to another.
Oil-hydraulic elevators - Answer An elevator system consisting of a car supported by a piston
that is moved by or moved against a fluid under pressure.
Electric elevator - Answer An elevator system consisting of a car that is mounted on guide rails
supported by hoisting cables, and driven by electric hoisting machine.
Lift - Answer The British term for elevator.
Passenger elevator - Answer An elevator for the exclusive use of passengers.
Freight elevator - Answer An elevator for carrying heavy cargo, on which the operator and the
persons necessary for unloading and loading the freight are permitted to ride.
Dumbwaiter - Answer A small elevator for conveying food, dishes, or other materials between
the floors of a building.
Bank - Answer A row of elevators in a high-rise building controlled by a common operating
system and responding to a single call button.
Rise - Answer The vertical distance traversed by an elevator car from the lowest to the highest
landings of the hoistway
Penthouse - Answer A structure housing an elevator machinery on the roof of a building.
Top car clearance - Answer The vertical distance from the top of an elevator car to the nearest
overhead obstruction when the car platform is level with the top landing.
Hoistway - Answer A vertical enclosed space for the travel of one or more elevators.
,Landing - Answer The portion of a floor adjacent to an elevator Hoistway, used for the
receiving and discharge of passengers or freight.
Elevator car safety - Answer A mechanical device for slowing down and stopping an elevator
car in the event of excessive speed or free fall, actuated by a governor and clamping the guide
rails by a wedging action.
Hoistway door - Answer A door between hoistway and an elevator landing, normally closed
except when an elevator car is stopped at the landing.
Elevator pit - Answer The portion of a hoistway extending from the level of the lowest landing
to the floor of the hoistway.
Bottom car clearance - Answer The vertical distance from the floor of an elevator pit to the
lowest part of an elevator car platform when the car rests on fully compressed buffers.
Bulkhead - Answer Boxlike structure on a roof providing access to a stairwell or an elevator
shaft.
Hoist-way machinery - Answer For raising and lowering an elevator car; has motor-generator
set traction machine, speed governor, brake, drive shaft, driving sheave and gears.
Control panel - Answer Contains switches, buttons and other equipment for regulating
electrical devices.
Driving sheave - Answer A wheel or disk with a grooved rim, used as pulley for hoisting.
Idle sheave - Answer A pulley for tightening and guiding the hoisting cables of an elevator
system.
Machine beam - Answer One of the heavy steel beams supporting the hoisting machinery for
an elevator.
Hoisting cable - Answer One of the wire cables or ropes used for raising and lowering an
elevator car.
Guide rail - Answer One of the vertical steel tracks controlling the travel of an elevator car or
counterweight.
,Traveling cable - Answer One of the electric cables connecting an elevator car to a fixed
electrical outlet in the hoistway.
Counterweight - Answer A weight balancing another weight to counterbalance the load placed
on the hoisting machine by an elevator car.
Limit switch - Answer Automatically cuts off current to an electric motor when an object
moved by it has passed a given point.
Buffer - Answer A piston or spring device for absorbing the impact of a descending elevator
car or counterweight at the extreme lower limit of travel.
Machine-roomless elevators - Answer The revolutionary elevator system is based on the first
major breakthrough in lifting technology in nearly 100 years. Designed for buildings between
two or 30 stories.
Gearless traction elevators - Answer Otis introduced the design that would become the
standard in the elevator industry. These elevators typically operate at speeds greater than 500
feet per minute.
Geared traction elevators - Answer The electric motor in this design drives a gear type
reduction unit, which turns the hoisting sheave. These elevator typically operate at speeds from
350 to 500 feet per minute and carry loads of up to 30,000 pounds.
Main brake - Answer Mounted directly on the shaft of the elevator machine. And the elevator
is first slowed down by dynamic braking action of the motor and the brake the operates to
clamp the brake drum, this holding the car still at the floor.
Safety switch - Answer Designed to stop an elevator car automatically before car speed
becomes excessive.
Electric final limit switches - Answer Located a few feet below and above safe travel limits if
elevator car. These switches de-energizes the motor and sets the main brake.
Oil or spring buffers - Answer Are placed at the bottom of the elevator pit, not to stop a falling
car, but to bring it to a partially cushion stop if the car should overshoot the lower terminal.
Lantern - Answer A light, usually over the entrance to an elevator on each floor of a multistory
building that signals the approach of the elevator.
, Annunciator - Answer A signaling apparatus in an elevator car or at a landing that displays a
visual indication of floor landings.
Call button - Answer A push button for requesting an elevator.
Door interlock - Answer A safety device for preventing the operation of an elevator car unless
the hoistway door is locked in the closed position.
Door contact - Answer A safety device for preventing the operation of an elevator cat unless
its door or gate is fully closed.
Dumbwaiter - Answer A small elevator for conveying food, dishes, or other materials between
the floor of a building.
3 ft. X 3 ft - Answer Size of hoistway.
2 ft x 2 ft 6 in - Answer Size of car.
Escalator - Answer A power driven stairway consisting of steps attached to a continuously
circulating belt, used for moving passengers up and down between floors.
32" and 48" or 800 and 1200 mm - Answer Width of escalator.
30 degrees - Answer Angle of inclination.
90 fpm and 120 fpm - Answer Speeds of the escalator.
Emergency stop switch - Answer In emergency, push this button to stop the escalator.
-in abnormal conditions caused by step deformation.
Step yellow frame - Answer A sign indicating the safe location where the passenger should
stand.
Skirt panel safety switch - Answer When something is stuck between the step and the skirt
panel, the escalator will stop.
