Thanks in advance
Elevators made back then relied on knowledgeable mechanics. You have to remember back then it was still your own fault if you hurt yourself, different times.
For these older units you don't need to actually overspeed the car, correct? You just remove governor cable, then spin and tach to test tripping speed?
You said your doing a cat 1. You don't get governor tripping speeds on a cat 1 test. That's a cat 5 test. But if you did need to, just clamp a vise grip on the governor rope just above the hole in the floor in the machine room, bump the car up a couple inches to get slack, slide the rope off the governor and you hold the tach on the governor while your helper spins it with a drill.
Cat 1 test all you do is run the car down on inspection speed, have your helper trip the governor manually while running on inspection speed, see the governor switch work, jump it out, bump it down, see the SOS switch work, jump it out, bump it down see the ropes slip on the sheave, bump it up, reset governor and SOS and your done with the safety test.
I have a couple 1000 volt insulated flat screwdrivers I keep in my toolbag as my wiring drivers that also double as insulated push sticks for contactors for tests on old stuff.