A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator used to transport food or goods between floors. They were popular in European and American restaurants before the 1930s, but modern versions use electric motors and are found in offices, factories, and stores. The term can also refer to a Lazy Susan or a play by Harold Pinter.
A dumbwaiter is a small freight elevator or dumbwaiter used to connect two floors, often carrying food or goods from one floor to another. Not intended for use by animals or people, a dumbwaiter can be a type of portable stand or table. They are often found in restaurants, or in old private houses, and are a means of transport between a kitchen and a floor above or below. A simple dumbwaiter includes shafts, ropes, and pulleys, while a more modern one may include electric motors such as a small-scale passenger elevator.
The simple dumbwaiter, of the type popular throughout Europe before the 1930s, consists of a metal or wooden frame, like a box, suspended from a rod. The shaft allows movement between two floors and the frame is usually suspended by a rope and guided by rails in the shaft. The dumbwaiter would remain stationary on both floors until a pulley system was activated from the floor above or below. Ropes and pulleys moved the dumbwaiter from floor to floor with people pulling on the ropes to move the box.
These primitive dumbwaiters were common in European restaurants and large-city restaurants in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Often food orders were shouted down the well and the dumbwaiter would bring in ingredients, food, provisions, or whole meals. Dumbwaiters at this time relied on a rope that tended to stretch until it snapped and sheaves on thin or shallow wheels that were easily pushed off the track. Often a dumbwaiter would slide the rod or pulley and land with a crash, delivering food in an unintended mess.
Starting in the 1930s, the dumbwaiter took on a more modern look. They started using electric motors and automatic movement systems. Some modern dumbwaiters can carry great weights, greatly outnumbering the unstable dumbwaiters of the early 1900s. They are used in office buildings, factories, and stores to move products, and they take up a safer and more usable place in today’s working world, albeit less important.
The word dumbwaiter can also refer to a piece known as a Lazy Susan, which can also be one of many things. A Lazy Susan can be a tray placed on top of a table to help move food during large meals or on large tables, or a corner swivel cabinet in a kitchen containing foods and spices. It can also refer to a 1957 play by Harold Pinter called The Dumb Waiter.
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