Elisha Otis, Born 1811
inventor of the safety elevator
Elisha Graves Otis was an American industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company, and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails. In 1851, he first moved to New Jersey to work as a mechanic, then to New York, as a manager of an abandoned sawmill which he was supposed to convert into a bedstead factory. At the age of 40, while he was cleaning up the factory, he wanted to get debris up to the upper levels of the factory. He and his sons designed their own "safety elevator" and tested it successfully. Otis took the opportunity to start an elevator company. No orders came to him for several months, but the 1853 New York World's Fair offered a great chance at publicity. Otis amazed a crowd when he ordered the only rope holding the platform on which he was standing cut. The rope was severed by an axeman, and the platform fell only a few inches before coming to a halt. The safety locking mechanism had worked, and people gained greater willingness to ride in traction elevators; these quickly became the type in most common use and helped make present-day skyscrapers possible.
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