alt Hacker NewsI wish there was more explanation as to why the original builders decided to make a cat's cradle out of the roping. It's not like you can accidentally run the cables for cab #1 all the way over cabs 2 & 3 because you weren't paying attention during installation.
It was pretty far down there, snuck in between some animated-in photos, but:
> Due to the placement of the machines under the hoistways, and the need for proper rope lead off of the overhead sheaves, the counterweights did not run in the same hoistways as the cars. This makes for a long, complicated rope scheme – each car had over ¾ of a mile of hoistrope!