What A Dramatic Stunt Contributed To Modern Passenger Lifts

It can sometimes be difficult to see which technologies are the building blocks of the future and which are development dead ends, as both are often met with a mix of excitement and scepticism.

The passenger lift was no different, and whilst it is now known as an interesting platform for both reliable transportation and unique innovations when the lift was first developed this was not entirely the case.

Some people were wary of the concept at first, because of a concern about the safety of technology that was rapidly evolving. With lifts at the time, there was a concern about what would happen if the hoisting cable snapped, but the answer lay in the developments of an inventor named Elisha Otis.

In 1852, Mr Otis was working for a bedstead factory company in Yonkers, New York, which relied heavily on a heavy-duty platform lift.

To make the system safer for everyone, Mr Otis devised a safety brake system that would automatically stop the lift from falling, but to sell it to other businesses he needed to develop a dramatic demonstration of its abilities.

The showcase in question happened at New York’s Crystal Palace during the New York Exposition in 1854, at an exhibit hosted by Mr Otis' newly-established eponymous Elevator Company.

First of all, he demonstrated the platform moving up and down a test shaft, open-sided so the many onlookers could see the inner workings.

When he reached halfway up the shaft, he picked up an axe and cut the cable holding the lift up, to the gasps of shocked onlookers who believed he had put himself in the gravest of danger.

Much to their surprise, however, the brakes quickly kicked in and he barely moved from his position. The gasps turned to applause and the lift went from a concerning piece of future technology to the building block of the city as we know it today.