PURPOSE: To reduce an occupying space of an upper half of an elevator shaft by moving a deflecting sheave to the driving sheave side by a moving means at the time when a state where a counterweight is positioned roughly at an upper half of a guide rail is detected by a position detecting means.

CONSTITUTION: A rope 12 is wound around a driving sheave 15 of a winding machine 14 in a machine room 13 set high up in an elevator shaft 1 of an elevator, a car 2 is connected to one end of this rope 12, and a counterweight 7 is connected to a deflecting sheave 16 respectively. The rope 12 is deflected by the deflecting sheave 16, the deflecting sheave 16 is made free to move by a moving means 17. A sheave to rotate in accordance with vertical movement of the car 2 is arranged in the elevator shaft 1, a position and a direction of the cage 2 are detected from output of a rotary encoder 22 installed on this sheave, and the deflecting sheave 16 is moved to the side of the driving sheave 15 by the moving means 17 at the time when a state where the counterweight 7 is positioned roughly at an upper half of the elevator shaft 1.