One type of residential 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Winding drum elevators were common as commercial models during the 19th and early 20th Centuries but, today, they have been replaced by hydraulic and traction machine elevators in commercial buildings.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.

How does the car know when to stop for this type of elevator? Often, residential elevators that use a winding drum mechanism use a mechanical or electrical limit device to tell the car - and the cables and drum, as well - to stop at that point. This mechanism, however, may end up causing trouble from a lack of communication between the gear and limit device, and this is why this type of elevator is no longer used in commercial buildings. Homes and small buildings using a winding drum usually have a limited space to move - three floors instead of fifteen, for example - and the chances of getting stuck in the elevator car is reduced by the space the car can move.