Elevators are moving platforms or cages for carrying people or freight from one level to another. There are several types of elevators in the world of Obduction, and in each Cell we find a different technology used.
Hunrath elevators[]
at its initial position
Technically, there are four elevators in Hunrath. All of them are made of parts that arrived to Hunrath by the action of Collector Seeds swapping spheres and individuals from Earth. The Trainyard and the Gas station spheres must have been the main source of materials, though some could have been in the cell since Hartnell was swapped to Soria.
The Waterfall elevator[]
The first one we meet is a lift that takes the player up to where the water can be diverted to the Waterfall. The way up is powered by a turbine moved by water flowing down the side of the waterfall. Once the water starts flowing down the waterfall, the lift takes the player back down but it cannot move up again.
The Railcart elevator[]
Then there is the simple mechanism that lowers the railcart from C.W.'s workshop on the railtrack system of Hunrath. It consists of two roller pairs, each hugging two of four H-metal beams. They attach separately to the two sides of the railcart without any platform connecting them. So the railcart is part of the elevator when in place. Althought there is a button to lower the cart, another button supposed to raise it back up is taped over, and once the cart has been lowered it cannot be brought back up again. The third one is the Backhoe shovel lift which connects the Scrapyard with the Supply yard and the fourth one is the Tower elevator.
The Backhoe Shovel lift[]
Once you have gained access to the Srapyard, amid all the mess of the place, you will find a big backhoe shovel on top of a makeshift platform. It is mounted on two sets of rail wheels which run up and down a slanted constuction crane column. At the two ends there are buttons which call the shovel, if not present, and while getting onto the shovel, a fixed button that can be reached while onboard, sets it moving to the other end. Upon reaching the lower end, the shovel lowers to let the passenger in or out. This elevator serves to gain first access to the Supply Yard below the Srapyard and therefore also to the inside of the Gas station. In past times, it served to move useful supplies for the Scrapyard to the Supply Yard.
The Tower elevator[]
Upon gaining access to the Mayor's office, we see a simple platform made of a metal frame with wooden boards. A call button is just outside the shaft. A rail on the left side of the platform and two cylindical tubes to the right, go all the way up the Tower and one level below. On the right side of the platform there are two buttons, however the elevator is not operational until the Tower elevator puzzle is solved.
After the elevator has been activated, we can observe the mechanism that drives it. It is mounted under the platform and consists of a motor driving a metal wheel which runs along the left rail, while two sets of small wheels with plastic tires run along the two tubes to the right, steadying the platform and keeping the driving wheel pressed in the rail. One level down from the Mayor's office the platform comes to the Tower basement which houses the Mayor's sleeping quarters. One level up instead, it leads to a corridor running along the Wall. One last level up, it comes to the Tower overlook. On all levels a call button can bring the elevator there if it's stationed elsewhere.
The elevators of Kaptar[]
There are two elevators of same technology met in Kaptar. One is at the left of the Crankshaft cavern, leading down to the Polyarch antechamber cave, and one towards the right end, over a metal bridge which leads down to the initial seed-swap device that brings one to Kaptar. Both are kept in position by four heavy roller chains hanging down from the same hub that holds the cable spool of the elevator. The carriages are metal cages with openings on all four sides and each has a lever that sets the elevator in motion either upwards or downwards. There are four sets of 3 wheels with indentations attached to the cage, two small and one large, around which the roller chains pass.
The elevator cages hang from a thick cable which spools around a hub connected to the shafts of the central power system. Though the shafts move in an oscilating to-and-fro movement, the hubs, like other joints along the shafts, convert this motion to rotation, whereby the spooling action is achieved. If the cage is not present at one end, it cannot be called to come there. It has to be driven there from the other side.
The elevators of Maray[]
There are four mechanisms that involve vertical movement of people and machines in the cell of Maray. The biggest one is part of the complicated Silo mechanism, and involves raising and lowering a retrieval platform activated and driven by a Villein control panel. The smallest is a mechanism that raises the cable car (or cable pod) of the Podding station in its starting position. Apart from these two, there are two elevators of the same type, both in the Gauntlet area. They both have a stepping platform with two control buttons and move along dented vertical shafts with various parts whose function is not made clear. Their movement involves the kind of mysterious Villein technology energy that moves all the machinery of this Cell. Both elevators can be called to the level one stands if they are not already there.