What is dumbwaiter?

A pulley system is used to run a dumbwaiter, which is just a little lift. Large homes were intended
to use dumbwaiters to move food and other essentials between floors. Basically, carrying out the
most basic duties of a mute waiter, a dumbwaiter is a small cart that moves up and down a shaft
on tracks to transport goods to levels above and below.
While transferring products between levels is made easier by a manual dumbwaiter's mechanical
operation, it still takes more work than with button-operated electric dumbwaiters. The load in the
car could be disrupted by older dumbwaiter lifts slipping. A misstep with the dumbwaiter could
result in a lost lunch or overturned drink if you were carrying a dish of food. Modern homes include
dumbwaiters with a plethora of convenient and safe functions that are absent from older models.
Where and when did the dumbwaiter start?
For thousands of years, people have employed this lifting equipment. The first usage is known to
have occurred in the Roman era, circa 200 BC. An architect explained how to convey products by
setting up a dumbwaiter.
The Greeks are credited with creating the first dumbwaiter. To transfer the load, these lifts
employed a system of winches and pulleys with ropes pulled by powerful men. Using 24 lifts to
transport gladiators and animals to the Colosseum's fighting arena floor, ancient Rome advanced
the concept. There were hundreds of personnel needed to run these elevators.
These hoists eventually evolved into people- and cargo-moving lifts.
The mid-19th century saw a rise in the popularity of dumbwaiters in the US. George W. Cannon,
an inventor from New York, obtained a patent for the first mechanical dumbwaiter in 1883. In
New York City's brownstones and townhouses, where vertical housing meant staff frequently had
to drag stuff up and down multiple flights of stairs, these motorised models were extremely helpful.
In both New York and London, dumbwaiters had gained enormous popularity by the turn of the
20th century. Apart from residential settings, they were frequently erected in urban eateries where
a kitchen could be situated beneath the eating area.
Who invented dumbwaiter?
The first dumbwaiter patent didn't surface until the end of the 19th century, even though the
mechanical dumbwaiter Jefferson used at Monticello was futuristic at the time.
The first patent application for a mechanical dumbwaiter that uses pulleys and weights was made
in 1887 by George W. Cannon. A balancing weight was incorporated into this design to aid in
the car's vertical movement. The length of the rope was expanded by pulleys at the top of the shaft
and attached above and below the car, which decreased the effort required to move the dumbwaiter.
Delivery between levels might be made easier in multi-story homes and apartments with the
invention of the mechanical dumbwaiter. The use of this equipment also proved beneficial to the
staff of restaurants at the time.

What are dumbwaiter used for?

Residential Applications
Below are a few uses for a home dumbwaiter:
Doing laundry: Laundry is a household chore hardly anyone looks forward to. Carrying
mountains of dirty clothes, towels or bedding down the stairs to the laundry room is tiring. And
when the laundry is done, you have to lug it up all over again. With a dumbwaiter, though, the task
becomes much simpler. Simply load your laundry into the dumbwaiter and send it down to the
laundry room with the touch of a button.
Putting away groceries: If you have a large house, the groceries you buy may need to go into
multiple rooms on multiple floors. Carrying heavy groceries up and down the stairs to the kitchen,
bathrooms, bedrooms, pantry or storage closets can wear you out, especially if you buy in bulk.
Make this chore easier on yourself by packing your purchases into the dumbwaiter and sending
them to the floor where they belong.
Moving: At the end of a move, you may find yourself standing on the ground floor of your new
home, surrounded by a sea of boxes you need to unpack. Carrying those boxes up and down the
stairs can leave you sweaty and fatigued. It could leave you with sore or strained muscles, or you
could fall on the stairs and injure yourself. A dumbwaiter makes the process easier and safer. If
your boxes or items fit, you can slide them into the dumbwaiter and send them to another floor.
Transporting cumbersome items: Sometimes you have bulky loads you need to move within
your home. You might have a few cases of wine to send down to your wine cellar or some firewood
to send to your fireplace. Or you might have stocked up on giant bags of dog food that need to go
to the basement for storage. Using your dumbwaiter makes transporting these items simpler and
faster.
Commercial Applications
Additionally, below are a few businesses that frequently use dumbwaiters:
Restaurants: Restaurants use dumbwaiters to move food, trays and kitchen supplies to different
floors. A kitchen dumbwaiter lift reduces the amount of manual climbing and carrying labor that
staff members must perform. It helps keep them more alert and refreshed, and it frees them to
focus more of their time and energy on the customer experience.
Libraries: Books are notoriously heavy, as anyone who’s ever packed and moved cumbersome
book boxes knows all too well. Carrying heavy stacks of books up and down the library stairs all
day would be exhausting for staff members and could lead to repetitive stress injuries. Using a
dumbwaiter alleviates these concerns.
Retail stores: Large retail stores that span multiple floors need a way to move inventory quickly
and easily. Sending employees to perform this task can exhaust them. It also directs their focus
away from the patrons counting on them for quality service. Using a dumbwaiter to move products
from floor to floor makes employees more efficient, productive and helpful.
Hotels: Hotels often use dumbwaiters to move trays of food in their kitchens and restaurants. They
may also have a dumbwaiter to transport luggage or use a laundry dumbwaiter for laundry and
supplies.
Hospitals and retirement homes: Medical facilities often have kitchens that need to serve a large
population with timely, efficient service. Dumbwaiters make the work of moving food trays and
kitchen supplies more manageable.

Reference
https://www.housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/a41685440/what-is-a-dumbwaiter/
https://inclinator.com/history-of-
dumbwaiters/#:~:text=In%201887%2C%20George%20W.,help%20the%20car%20move%20ver
tically.