Geoff Judge is the winner!
It took less than 24 hours for the correct answer to appear...
and it was the first response!

You have to make the best case and be
the first person to tell me what I'm looking at here.
You can't just say, "It's a _____."
You have to explain the operation of the device I am interested in.
Do all that and you win an elevatorbob coffee mug...pretty simple huh?!

Geoff Judge's Explanation

"To me this is a unit with no safety rope and the gear activated by means of a "slack rope system."

" All ropes were terminated in a separate safety shoe, often using a solder babbit and a "Rose" or "Turk's Head", and it was on the fact that all 4 ropes had the same tension that kept the shoes clear of the guides. Once a rope became slack the shoe moved into the guide. The castings on each bar are to stop the bar moving too far out when the rope tension is removed during re-roping.

"There is a probability this is an old Electro or Shorts lift from the 30's.

"There is also a Dewirst Proximity Switch at the left hand side of the lift which would not be original equipment for a lift of this age.

"Way back in late 70’s I had one to re-rope in a public market in Leeds UK. This was a basement drive Waygood, with a similar arrangement except the safety gear was under the car, not on top as this unit has.

"After forming the "Rose" and melting out the old solder, we made off all the ropes and pulled them all through together, only to find the supervisor had ordered the wrong length of ropes and we were about 10ft short of the balance weight when we ran out of rope.

"We had to do it all again on the same day, as the following day the market would be trading.

"Finished about 10 at night. And the following day we had to rush back when the market ceased trading to check the tensions just to make sure the clearences hadn’t altered due to the rope stretch.

"Oh, happy days.

"The Motor is a Horace Green, Tri-slot, from Connonly in West Yorkshire, U.K. A good quiet induction motor, with a high starting torque, and it was one that would work with a variable frequency drive bolted on, without problems.

"I have 3 sites still using them on 10 stop lifts dating from the mid 60’s. These are the only lifts in the building and it is social housing, so the usage is 24/7."

Now I would say that was one terrific explanation!

I found another image that I believe more closely resembles the roping arrangement that Geoff describes.

As you can clearly see in this image, each of the four ropes is guided down to an individual safety shoe on each side of the rail. This car also has a governor rope but it appears to also have another rope on the other side of the car which seems to pass by the car. Could this be the return side of the first governor rope? Does it go into the pit and then where? Another mystery perhaps?

Geoff selected a new school mug...let's hope he sends us a picture of himself holding the mug so we have proof I am actually sending out these mugs!!

And he did...!

Geoff Judge - United Kingdom
Geoff - Thank you for the excellent explanation and the picture!