You’ll find them in factories and shops moving storage items, dry goods and valuables. Dumbwaiters today carry food still in restaurants and upscale homes. Nowadays, we associate dumbwaiter with a mini freight elevator. These days we just call those kitchen or serving carts. No doubt, this was where the silent servant earned the name ‘dumb waiter’! The mini-lift may have been silent but it did not remain dumb,” from the Elevator Museum website.įirst the dumbwaiter acted as a silent, inanimate cart acting as a stand-in for an actual member of staff. “The small car performed services in restaurants, allowing the noise and odor of cooking to be isolated from the patrons. Have you ever wondered how dumbwaiters got their unique name? Tracing its exact origin is difficult. Both take their name from the same attribute. There are actually two types of dumbwaiters of different configuration but similar purpose. But the dumbwaiter represents an important invention of convenience for homes and businesses.
