Modern elevators are made in a variety of types for many purposes

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Modern elevators are made in a variety of types for many purposes; in addition to ordinary freight and passenger operations they are used in ships, dams, and such specialized structures as rocket launchers from passenger elevator factory. Heavy-lift, rapid-descent elevators are employed in high-rise construction operations.

Practically all are electrically propelled, either by cables, sheave and counterweight, by a winding-drum mechanism (still used in many low-rise freight elevators), or by an electro-hydraulic combination. Multiple cables (three or more) increase both the traction surface with the sheave and the safety factor; cable failure is rare.

The drive motor usually operates on alternating current for slower speeds and direct current for higher speeds of FUJI elevator . With the direct-current motor, the speed is changed by varying the field strength of a direct-current generator, and by adjusting the direct connection of the armature of the generator with the armature of the drive motor. For high-speed elevators, a gearless arrangement is used, usually with the cables wrapped twice around the sheave.