[jspatz1]

We cascaded our elevator in 2011 and it worked very well. A couple of advantages: Movement of the intermediate stage is predictable and proportional to the overall lift. With continuous rigging the intermediate stage can theoretically move first or last or somewhere in between, depending on where the friction is. With cascade the total lift is 2X the length of the cable wound on the winch, so you get 2X the lift speed with 1/2 the motor revolutions, and 1/2 the sensor revolutions if you are measuring. By cascading we were also able to route an umbilical to the arm (air line and solenoid wires) by simply going over a pulley on the intermediate stage, which moved in proportion to the lift.