The following is a photo of a typical elevator motor generator. Well, maybe not so typical. What you’re seeing is a generator brush that has a broken “shunt” (1), and another brush with solder on it’s shunt that had been thrown from the commutator due to overheating and poor commutation (2).

These are things that the average building owner/manager would never be aware of until the elevator (a high speed traction elevator) begins to mislevel. Had another brush shunt broken on this generator, it would have misleveled badly. Proper and diligent maintenance of generator and motor brushes are crucial to the safe operation of elevators. Brushes should be “seated” to provide proper commutation, and the commutator should be properly maintained and/or polished to provide a smooth surface for brushes to ride upon. This is not the case here.

Had this situation not been discovered, an accident due to trip and fall would have been eminent. Fortunately, the building owner had grown weary of all the resident complaints and hired our Consultant to investigate.