One type of residential traction machine elevator design in a winding drum. Winding drum elevators were common as commercial models during the 19th and early 20th Centuries but, today, they have been replaced by hydraulic and traction machine elevators in commercial buildings. Aside from buildings with old, birdcage-style elevators, only homes are the places where you'll find this older elevator design. A winding drum operates with a system of pulleys that act like counterweights to move the car. Because of this, the design is considered unsafe for areas prone to disasters, such as California, but is used in areas that don't experience earthquakes and tornadoes.

This type of elevator uses a gear reduction drive machine with steel ropes that wind around a drum or a gear with a large diameter. Since the elevator moves as a counterweight, both of the ropes extend from the car to the drum and go around sheaves, or wheels, at the top of the hoist way. Therefore, when the car is going up the elevator shaft, the ropes and gears are actually going down to move the elevator.