I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

Were you familiar with those Haughton selectors, with all the chains and clutches?

Yes, after 30 years I still have nightmares about them.

Now that brings back memories, although my memory is not what it used to be, i think those were the b3 and b5 venier selectors. could be wrong as to the name, but i still remember having to take care of about 12 of them at the federal building in down town los angeles, and also at 6300 wilshire boulevard in west los angeles. 6300 wilshire was one of the buildings on my first route, it was comprised of the b5 selector, and i believe it was the 1092 ic controller, which was a bunch of ttl logic boards integrated with the selector and the relay controller. it was quite the beast, i was lucky to have this on my first route, as it gave me a lot of experience. I remember being compensated for fixing a problem that no one was able to fix since the unit was installed. The super told me if i fixed the problem he would give me a 12 percent raise. this was on the first day of getting the route. 5 days later, i called the super and let him know it was fixed, he did not believe me, he had to come to the job and check it out. I ended up getting my raise, that also started me on the way to my future troubleshooting job. Sorry for babbling on, but that unit really brings back fond memories.

Hah hah! That's quite a story! Funny how old equipment can stir those early memories. Was that 6300 building in Century City? I was a helper there briefly with Amtech. Actually, I think the Haughton stuff I saw was on Avenue of the Stars.

I worked on the Federal Building installation as a 50% helper. It was my first job in the field after leaving Haughton engineering on Glendale Boulevard. Also worked your 6300 Wilshire job. I believe it was Beneficial Standard. 1888 & 11901 Ave of the Stars as well. You are right about the B5 Vernier. Haughton only shipped three of these. 6300 Wilshire, 1st National Bank in San Diego (worked that one too) and a job in the Mid West. My Dad Vance Collett adjusted all the LA & San Diego jobs. When you had FOB who were you working for.

If you're still wrenching it, work safe,

Jim

PS: Not a pitch here, I talked about most of the above in my book "Elevator Man Stories"

Hi jim, I have been working with Reliable elevator for 26 years now, they were bought by abm industries and changed the name to Amtech, that was the name when we had the FOB downtown los angeles. That was a cool job, i checked out your website, and saw the book, very interesting, think i will get a copy. by the way did you see my reply to your 6010 question, was just wondering if you passed the info on to your buddy. Hey Vic, i think you worked at 1901 avenue of the stars, in century city, that was another haughton job, can't remember if it was a 1092 with vernier selector, don't think it was, what branch did you work out of, was it on Leo street in commerce, I have been a troubleshooter there for around 20 years now, i should have known you, if you were a service helper.

Hi jim, I have been working with Reliable elevator for 26 years now, they were bought by abm industries and changed the name to Amtech, that was the name when we had the FOB downtown los angeles. That was a cool job, i checked out your website, and saw the book, very interesting, think i will get a copy. by the way did you see my reply to your 6010 question, was just wondering if you passed the info on to your buddy. Hey Vic, i think you worked at 1901 avenue of the stars, in century city, that was another haughton job, can't remember if it was a 1092 with vernier selector, don't think it was, what branch did you work out of, was it on Leo street in commerce, I have been a troubleshooter there for around 20 years now, i should have known you, if you were a service helper.

hi jim. got a question. we here in aus had a company use mg sets from westinghouse. do you have any pics of these controllers used in the us as ive always wondered if we made them alike or we just used the westinghouse running gear.

cheers brett.

ps ill get your book too!

Hey Scott,

Never worked as service helper. Construction until turning out as mechanic then adjuster. I did work 1901 & 1888 as a helper during construction. Worked another one in CC all I remember was the yellow porcelain cabs. I think it was the Alcoa building. I worked out of the Glendale office and then moved to San Diego, Seattle, Sacramento and finally Monterey where I retired 10 years ago. I did see your reply and passed it on to my friend, hadn't heard back from him as of yet. When I do I'll post the results.

Work Safe My Friend,

Jim

Hi Brett,

Westinghouse was not directally in the elevator business. What they did was supply rotating elements to independent companies. The largest I remember was Llewelyn Iron Works out of Southern California. Llewelyn built there own geared machines, controllers, car frames and related equipment. These guys built beautiful stuff and were way ahead of thier time. They were the only company in California that could go head to head with Otis on class A installations during the twenties and thirties. The were other smaller companies that also bought from WECO, like Spencer Westinghouse. WECO got into the elevator business because Llewelyn and others fell upon hard times during the depression and were on the hook with WECO for big bucks. WECO took over some of these companies and started installing elevators and escalators.

There might be some pic of their stuff at Elevator Bobs site. Think the link is on my site.

EMail me at [email protected] and I'll send some diagrams for Llewelyn.

Regards, Jim

cheers jim, thanks for the info. l'll email you regarding some info. i found my apprentice welcome kit and in it it had a history of our company thru the ages from about late 1800's to when we were sold to otis in 1995. it had stated that we had a partnership with 'the westinghouse electric co'.

thanks mate.

Actually I think Westinghouse was in the elevator business. Westinghouse electric bought K&H and that became Westinghouse Elevator Co. They still have Westinghouse elevators in the Sears tower.

Scott,
That was about 1986, I think. All I remember about 1901 Avenue of the Stars, is that the selector had electric clutches, and a myriad of chains. It looked like something that would never stay in adjustment very long! The mechanic had me clean car tops. That's about all I remember. Later, Amtech was "training" me to be a troubleshooter, hung around with Joe Pasol a bit, learned about the titty bar. Didn't think my carreer was going anywhere, so I went to Otis. (It was a fundemental misjudgement on my part, because I was in a great position, and didn't know it)

The next time I was on the Avenue of the Stars was as an adjustor for Otis, on 401s, in about 1989.

Hey, Vic, Just missed you, I started in the solid state room in 1985 on 15th street, fixing circuit boards, ssd1, timer boards, level sensors boards, you name it we tried to fix it. also assembled and wired up the temporary skips, and pump units for the construction dept. I know Joe Pasol , he was the troule shooter while i was still in the solid state room, he taught me a lot of good stuff, and yes he was quite the partier, been to a couple of titty bars with him over the years. truth be told more than a couple, but that was the past. He was a good elevator guy, quite smart, he used to teach elevator classes at the leo street location. I loved to see him teach, and even though i was very young, i got in on the teaching thing and taught a few classes of my own on circuit board theory and troubleshooting. still remember being scared to death to speak in front of a bunch of older elevator men, i was still a very young guy. to bad you could not have stuck around for a few more years, the next 10 years at amtech/reliable were amazingly fun.