45. Richmond, J., and Carey, H. F. Jan 1. Lifts. - Relates to "push-button" electric-control systems for electric, hydraulic, or other lifts, and consists (1) in connecting travelling contact-wires, which in conjunction with fixed contacts serve as a floor controller, to the balance weight of the lift ; (2) of an arrangement of switches at the floors and in the cage, each having contacts such that it can send the cage to any floor, and (3) of means for causing the weight of the passenger &c. in the cage to lock the push buttons or other switches. The bare contact-wires 1, 2, Fig. 1, connected at one end by a spring and insulators, pass over insulated pulleys at the top and bottom of the shaft, and have their other ends connected to insulators 3, 4 on the balance-weight. The two wires are connected respectively through wipers and wires 26, 27 and the up-and-down solenoids 58, 59 of the motor-reversing switch, to a battery &c. 21, which is preferably of lower potential than the motor supply; the circuit is completed in the other direction through a contact 18 embracing the wire 1, 2 at each floor and a corresponding push-button switch 17. The wire 1, 2 moves with the balance-weight and cage, and therefore, on pressing a button at any floor, the circuit is completed through the wire 1 or the wire 2, and corresponding solenoid of the reversing switch, according as the cage is below or above that floor, and, on the cage reaching the floor, this circuit is broken by the passage of the insulators 3, 4 between the contacts 18 at the floor. As soon as the motor circuit is completed, the push-buttons are locked, the button which has been pressed in its operative position, and the others in their inoperative position. This is effected by levers 35 or rings, Fig. 9, which are simultaneously caused to engage collars 30 on the push-button stems, by a solenoid, in the motor circuit, or by a governor device or otherwise. The push-buttons in the cage, connected in parallel to those at the floors, are locked in a similar way by a solenoid 23 in the control circuit. The circuit from the push-buttons is completed through door-contacts 45 at each floor, and the doors are fitted with bolts adapted to be opened by a cam on the cage. Each of the insulators 3, 4, Fig. 6, comprises a base 56, a carbon block 57, and an insulating-block 3 or 4. In the case of a hydraulic lift, the solenoids 58, 59 would operate the controlling-valve, and the push-buttons would be locked by a small hydraulic cylinder. According to the second part of the invention, Fig. 4, at each floor and in the cage is a single switch 65, 67, &c., each having contacts corresponding to all the floors, and all connected to move simultaneously by means of a rod &c. 69b connecting the floor switches and a lever 78 and chain 76 connecting this rod to the cage switch. The switches are all locked on closing the circuit, by means of a toothed lever 72 engaging a toothed quadrant on one of the switches and actuated by a solenoid 73 energized by the control current. According to the third part of the invention, a switch, closed by the weight of a passenger &c. on the hinged and spring-supported floor of the cage, closes a circuit in connection with the reversing- switch, such that, when this latter switch is operated, a circuit including the push-locking solenoid is closed.