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[MagicJuggler]

That looks easy enough. A mechanism and enormous corkscrew should be all you need for it.

[Foa]

That looks easy enough. A mechanism and enormous corkscrew should be all you need for it.

No, it'll take like 3 mechanisms ( plus two a z level ) , 4 logs/rocks/metal ( plus w*l+1 = extra stone/logs/metal ) to make a 3 x 3 elevator, that goes up 1 z level, 30 power ( +5 a z level ) ... but I don't know, Toady has to decide.

[Granite26]

Implimentation details are really pointless, as are the names.  What's important about the whole thing is 'we'd like the ability to make moving floors of some sort, lifting, rotating, whatever'

I'll admit, rotating would be CRAZY difficult, though

[Qmarx]

Having floodgates displace water instead of destroying it would enable a lot of nice engineering possibilities.  In particular, you could have water/magma pumps that work a little better than the current one.

[Xonara]

I don't really agree with not being able to make rock mechanisms. If you have to "balance" the game, make them unreliable by having them break every now and then.

[Granite26]

Air compression did exist in primitive forms throughout the olden days. The bellows were the classic example of an air compressor, and were the main means for refilling airgun canister (as during the times of blackpowder, air-based weaponry was considered as a serious weapon despite prohibitive cost, due to the ability to have multiple bullets/clip, and no muzzle flash/smoke discharge). Larger bellows were mounted on wagons in the 18th century to quicken compression, yet such bellows could easily be used in a 1400s techbase.

Air pressure tech seems like a poor substitute for a lot of other things, but could make a really cool addition for a single race...

[MagicJuggler]

The main disadvantages one would have with air compression include poor-quality air-sealing (e.g. an air-canister with fractures could explode with nasty results), and an excessive amount of power needed to fully pump a canister to full capacity. There are niches where it would work well, such as the airguns aforementioned (the 18th century was when airguns reached their peak with the Girandoni rifle, yet airguns would exist for much earlier before that), or for torpedo design (although the degree of air compression needed for a reliable torpedo would probably be too high for DF; the Whitehead torpedo had an air pressure of about 2.65 megapascals)

[Cles]

I like most of it.

[Dakira]

Okay this idea is going to mix a some bits about mechanics, mining, and stockpiles. I'm going to start with a very rough synopsis and then explain it. I hope it all makes sense.

Ready? GO!

When mining, each new space of earth contains 7 stone in there (like water for sake of argument). Mining skill determines how many stones are actually left over in the space. 7/7 stone piles can not be traversed and a conveyor belt can be used to remove mass amounts of stone from mining. Stone begins to pile at the end of the belt or somewhere else and after 7 of 7 stones fall onto the same space, that 'pile' topples into another space making two piles of 4 and 3 (or some such). This can continue as the pile grows larger and could potentially go up in Z-levels. Rock grinders can attack the stone to turn it into dust/powder/concrete mix (the Romans had it!)

And now for something a little more explanatory:
People have been asking for more realistic or challenging mining so it's not as simple to carve out a mountain home when your population is less than 20. So if stones could pile up in a space during mining and block passage, they would need to be moved by dwarves, or machines and this could provide more of a challenge. A mining conveyor belt would be perfect for this and it's really simple tech. Axles, belt, done. I felt the need to mention the stone piling up so that we can avoid one space of 284368812 stone that dwarves could walk through with no problem. I checked one of my dumps once and one space had a metric ton of stone that people were casually walking right through. I imagine some magical tower of perfectly balanced stone. But back to the idea... As stone topples over it takes up space and piles up. A rock grinder could be set out far enough away from the pile so that whatever "topples" into range could be ground up into a 'powder' and used for whatever. Some have mentioned sand for glass, personally I like the idea of concrete, though I feel that's not entirely dwarven.

This is just an idea that spans multiple suggestions and any feedback is appreciated. It probably isn't perfect but I liked it pretty well. 

[Granite26]

If I'm reading this right, you are saying:

Conveyor Belts
Rubble
Large Stacks
Concrete
and
Rock Grinder

and the rest of it is just a description of one way they could all be used to play together?

[Random832]

I'd just like to pop in with "concrete + metal bars = reinforced concrete = higher tensional strength = more resistant to improved cave-in".

A resistance that could be weakened by heat.

[korora]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Reinforced concrete wasn't around until the mid-1800s. 

[MagicJuggler]

The chinese had access to the piston rod as well, and it could be another technology useful for building stuff.

[Granite26]

Can I get more details on the piston rod?

Also, I'm adding Concrete and Reinforced to the top.

Finally, going to make a few notes on Power.  We could stand to have the power consumption of things in the Raws (would allow the realists to kill perpetual motion).  Also, quality modifiers could serve as a 1/X modifier for power consumption, for axels and gearboxes especially.

[MagicJuggler]

Wang Zhen's Piston Bellows, powered by waterwheel. Enjoy