March 23, 1857 – The First Passenger Elevator is Installed

On this day in engineering history, Elisha Otis' first elevator for public use was installed at 488 Broadway, New York City. The building was a five-story department store owned by E.W. Haughtwhat and Company. Although Elisha Otis had invented the safety elevator, which prevented the fall of the cab if the cable broke, back in 1853, it wasn't until March 23, 1857 that the first commercial passenger elevator was installed.

Elisha Otis' elevator followed existing patterns and consisted of a platform set between vertical guide rails. The platform was raised and lowered on a rope wound around an overhead drum. The drum turned via belting that looped across the floor to a central, continuously-turning steam engine. The difference between the Otis elevator and previous designs was the automatic safety device that Otis created and coupled to his machine. This important invention ensured public confidence, allowing the elevator to move from freight transportation to human transportation.

Elevators had been used for material transportation as early as the 3^rd century BC and were moved by water, human or animal power. When Elisha Otis invented his freight elevator in 1853, he relied on steam for power. In the early 1870's, hydraulic machines began to replace steam-powered elevators. Modern elevators are one of two types of designs: traction elevators and hydraulic elevators. In a traction elevator, cars are pulled by rolling steel ropes over a pulley and are balanced by a counterweight. The friction between the rope and the pulley furnishes the traction which gives this type of elevator its name. Hydraulic elevators use the principal of hydraulics to pressurize an aboveground or in-ground piston to raise and lower the car.

Interestingly, the first elevator shaft for human transportation was built in 1853, four years before the installation of the Otis elevator at 488 Broadway, New York City. Peter Cooper, a prolific inventor and successful industrialist, installed an elevator shaft in his Cooper Union building because he was confident that a safety elevator would soon be invented. In fact, Cooper had a circular elevator shaft installed because he felt this was the most efficient design. Eventually, Elisha Otis designed a passenger elevator especially for Cooper's school.

Otis elevators have been installed in some of the world's most famous structures, including the Eiffel Tower, the London Underground, the Kremlin, the Empire State Building, the former World Trade Center and the Petronas Twin Towers. Today, the Otis Elevator Company is owned by United Technologies Corporation and is the world's most popular transportation company. According to United Technologies, Otis elevators carry the equivalent of the world's population every nine days.

Resources:

http://www.theelevatormuseum.org/timeline.htm

http://www.otis.com/otis150/default/1,2341,CLI1_RES1,00.html

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blelevator.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Elevator_Company

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator