A Shabbat elevator is an elevator which works in a special mode, operating automatically, to satisfy the Jewish law requiring Jews to abstain from operating electrical switches on Shabbat. These are also known as Sabbath or Shabbos elevators.
Shabbat elevators
Shabbat elevator switches
An elevator or lift is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems such as a hoist, although some pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack.
Outside of typical elevators, shown in an office building in Portland, Oregon
This elevator to the Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station in Berlin is built with glass walls and doors, exposing the inner workings.
Elevator design by the German engineer Konrad Kyeser (1405)
Elisha Otis demonstrating his safety system, at the New York Crystal Palace, 1853