Elevators are a commonplace fixture in multi-story or high-rise buildings in all parts of the globe. They are often taken for granted since they have become so universally adopted but we only need to look at the history of them to see what engineering marvels they are. Early elevators were mentioned in Roman texts as being developed by Archimedes in around 236 B.C. but these were basically small cabs attached to a rope and were operated by human or animal power. Different types of elevating mechanisms were developed in the 18^th and 19^th century. In Russia, a man named Ivan Kulibin designed an elevator in 1793 that used a screw mechanism to raise and lower the unit. During the 19^th century there were many types of elevators employed but they were very simple devices used primarily to carry cargo. They used hydraulics to operate the elevators employing a pump that would apply water pressure sent through a steel column to make the elevator ascend and descend. They used a system of counterbalances to prevent the hydraulic system from carrying the full load but it was not a practical system, especially for taller structures since the hydraulic system had to be buried in the ground as deep as the building was tall.

Elisha Otis developed the safe type of elevator we are familiar with in 1852. A set of rollers would lock the elevator into place if something happened and the elevator began to drop too fast. He gave a demonstration of it in 1854 at an exposition at New York’s Crystal Palace. Otis passenger elevators were first installed in a building on Broadway in New York. Actually, during the construction of the Cooper Union building in 1853, Cooper included an elevator shaft in his design because he was certain someone would develop a practical passenger elevator. The Otis Elevator Company (owned by United Technologies Corp.) is the largest manufacturer of elevator equipment in the world. Stairs were actually banned from new building construction in 1962 but that was soon changed as wisdom prevailed.

History Store History DVDs Replica Guns Replica Swords Scale Model Kits

Residential elevators were first created by Clarence Crispen in 1929 and he also invented the stairlift which plays a vital role in helping the elderly and the handicapped navigate stairs. So the next time you ride in an elevator, don’t be surprised if you look down and see the name Otis printed on it.

Tags: 1793, 1852, 1854, 18th century elevators, 1929, 1962 ban of stairs in new buildings, 19th century elevators, 236 B.C., Archimedes, Clarence Crispen, early elevators, Elisha Otis, History DVDs, history of elevators, hydraulic elevators, Ivan Kulibin, New York's Crystal Palace, Otis Elevator Company, replica guns, Replica Swords, Residential elevators, Roman elevators, scale model kits, stairlift, United Technologies Corp