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Timeline of the Elevator:

1850- Harry Waterman actually invented the elevator and this was the start of a new beginning.
1853- Elisha Otis invented and patented the safety brake for the elevator seeing that this invention can
go farther to where it can hold people.
March 23, 1857- Otis demonstrated his safety brake elevator that was steam powered; to people in New
York and this is when everyone realized this is going to have a huge impact on the world.
1885- The first skyscraper was built in Chicago and Otis's safety elevator was what made this building
possible. This was the first installation of this elevator.
1889- Otis developed the gear-less traction system involving cables and electricity that would become
the most common way to run an elevator.
1903- Otis invented an elevator that would become the general design of todays elevators.
2008- 57 elevators were installed in the worlds tallest building that is over 2,694 feet tall.
Present- Otis's company is the worlds leading elevator manufacturer. As buildings begin to rise to new
heights, so does the technology of elevators and new possibilities for America.
TYPES OF ELEVATORS OTIS'S COMPANY HELPED INVENT:
-Hydraulic , Machine powered, and Geared Traction elevators.
-Double Deckers, Sky lobbies, Observation Decks, Freight, and
Residential elevators

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Ups & Downs: The Evolution of Elevators

by Rachel Ross, Live Science Contributor | December 21, 2016 03:13am ET

Original Image

Credit: Dampfplauderer | Wikimedia

The need to move things to the next level has been recognized for thousands of years.
Elevators have a long history, going from a platform attached to a rope pulled by a
human to the smooth, electric rides in boxes that we now enjoy.

Invention and evolution

Vertical lifts may have been used to build the pyramids in Egypt. However, the first
recorded use came in the third century B.C., according to Elevator History. Archimedes,
the Greek mathematician, physicist and astronomer, is typically credited with inventing
the first known elevator, according to Landmark Elevator. His device was operated by
ropes and pulleys. The ropes were coiled around a winding drum by a capstan and
levers, according to Otis World Wide. These early lifts, or hoists, powered by people,
animals or water, were primarily used to lift heavy loads, such as water or building
materials.

Crude elevator systems lifted people as early as the first century A.D, according to Otis.
The Roman Coliseum used lifts to raise gladiators and wild animals up from the lower
levels to the arena level. In medieval times, hoists were the only way to get to the
monastery in St. Barlaam, Greece, which stood on a pinnacle about 200 feet (60
meters) off the ground.

King Louis XV had the one of the earliest elevators designed specifically for passenger
use, known as the "flying chair." It was installed by Blaise-Henri Arnoult at the Palace of
Versailles in 1743, according to This is Versailles. Louis needed a private elevator to
allow his mistress to secretly visit him. The passenger operated the elevator by pulling a
cord connected to pulley system with counterweights.

The next big leap in elevator technology came with the invention of the steam engine in
1765 by James Watt, according to Landmark Elevators. The new invention allowed
elevators to move larger, heavier loads — such as coal, lumber and steel — to upper
floors of taller buildings as construction boomed during the Industrial Revolution.

Elisha Graves Otis introduced the first safety devicefor elevators in 1852, which
prevented the elevator from plummeting to the ground in case the cables broke.
According to Funding Universe Company Histories, the saw-toothed ratchet activated to
hold the elevator in place when a spring lost its tension by the breaking of the lifting
cables. The first passenger elevator complete with Otis' safety feature was operational
by 1857 in a New York City department store, according to Columbia Elevator.

Werner von Siemens built the first electric elevator in 1880, according to Siemens. The
elevator was moved by a motor built underneath the platform and raised it by using a
gear system based on the dynamo-electric principle. The elevator was originally
supposed to premier at the Mannheim Pfalzgau Trade & Agricultural Exhibition in
Germany, but was delayed by two months. The elevator proved to be a huge hit with
thousands of passengers able to take a ride.

There are many milestones in elevator evolution:

 In 1878, the Otis company introduced a faster, more economical hydraulic elevator.
 In 1887, Alexander Miles, an American inventor, patented a mechanism for automatically
closing the doors to the elevator shaft.
 Joseph Giovanni, an American inventor, patented a safety bumper in 1944 that
prevented the elevator doors from closing on a passenger or another obstacle.
  Otis Elevators, now owned by Elisha Otis' sons, installed the first control system that
automatically controlled the varying speed of elevators in 1924. The system
automatically controlled the acceleration, speed between floors, and deceleration as the
elevator came to a stop, according to Otis World Wide.
 Otis Elevators installed an elevator in the newly completed Empire State Building that
was capable of traveling 1,200 feet per minute (366 meters per minute), according
to Funding Universe Company Histories. The Empire State Building now contains 73
elevators.
 Otis Elevators introduced microprocessors into their elevator control systems, which they
called Elevonic 101, in 1979, which made elevators fully automated, according to Otis
World Wide.
Innovations

As buildings grow, elevators need to be able to keep up with the increased number of
floors and the need to deliver passengers to their desired floors quickly. According
to CNN, one building in China holds three elevator records: fastest, tallest, and fastest
double-deck elevator. Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building in the world at
2,074 feet (632 meters), and its elevator, designed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in
Japan, travels at 67 feet per second (20.5 meters per second) over 121 floors.

And in the ever-continuing race to build the biggest and best, Jeddah Tower in Saudi
Arabia, to be completed in 2019, will take over the record for the tallest building as well
as tallest and perhaps fastest elevator, according to CNN. Standing at a full kilometer in
height, various options needed to be reviewed in order to withstand the height and
speed requirements of the elevator. Kone, a company based in Finland, has designed
and built elevators using carbon-fiber ropes that are strong enough to enable elevators
to travel 2,165 feet (660 meters), according to Kone.

With the increase in height and speed of elevators, innovators and inventors are
constantly improving and introducing new safety features.

One such improvement includes a patent filed for over-acceleration and over-speed
protection by a group of inventors at Otis Elevator Company in 2009. This system
detects when the elevator begins to speed and automatically triggers mechanical brake
attached to an electromagnetic trigger. Another patent filed in 2011 by Juan Carlos
Abad, an inventor from Switzerland, includes a safety circuit that is used to decelerate
an elevator in a controlled manner when the emergency stop is activated.

Artist's concept of a space elevator system, looking down at Earth from 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers)
up. Original Image

Credit: NASA
Future

New technologies are being developed and explored to make elevators taller, faster and
safer.

Elevators are even aiming to use magnets in place of ropes. German

company ThyssenKrupp is developing an elevator known as MULTI that uses magnetic
levitation, according to Business Insider. The elevator will not only be able to reduce the
elevator's footprint drastically, it will be able to greatly improve the efficiency of people
moving by being able to have multiple cars in each shaft. And like the elevator straight
from the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," it can travel horizontally as
well as vertically, creating all sorts of new possibilities.

Just how tall can we actually build an elevator? Science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke
popularized the idea that an elevator would travel all the way into space in his novel,
"Fountains of Paradise." In his novel, a five-hour elevator ride goes from the surface of
Earth to a space colony and provides "one of the most breathtaking views you will ever
see" of the planet Earth growing smaller as passengers traveled up.

According to NASA, an elevator to space may actually be possible in the near future.
The elevator would extend from a base tower approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) tall
attached to a geostationary satellite22,236 miles (35786 km) above the Earth. There
would be four to six tracks where electromagnetic elevator cars would be able to travel
up to thousands of kilometers per hour.

Additional resources

 Space.com: Can Quiet, Efficient 'Space Elevators' Really Work?

 Otis: About Elevators
 Siemens: First Electric Elevator
Editor's Recommendations
 How to Survive an Elevator Free Fall
 Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas
 Who Invented the Steam Engine?
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Author Bio

Rachel Ross, Live Science Contributor

Since high school, Rachel Ross has been looking up toward the stars to
understand how the universe works. She has an undergraduate degree from the
University of California Davis and a master's degree in astronomy from James
 Cook University. Rachel has spent several years making her passion for
astronomy and science education into a profession. She has even held the
position of Jedi master at an observatory. And no matter what anybody says, the
final answer is always 42 and duct tape is useful in all situations.

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Elevator History

The History of Elevators

Since the dawn of time humans sought the way for more efficient transport of
goods and human passengers from one level of terrain to another. First written
report of an elevator came in 1st century BC when roman architect Vitruvius
mentioned that Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedeshas built his first
elevator around 235BC. Even before that there some suspicion that several ancient
civilizations have used elevators. Archeologists have found shafts that could be used
for elevator transport in several ancient ruins. Since 1st century BC elevators
powered by human, animal and water power became widely used in Roman Empire,
most famously at the Roman Colosseum where elevator platform transported
gladiators and wild animals to the arena level.
During Middle Ages several mountain monasteries used small “basket” elevators to
transport people and goods to their high and secluded walls. Those monasteries
where built with no land access to them with elevator as the only point of entry. In
1793 Russian mechanic and inventor created first elevator that lifted its cabin using
screw mechanisms. His elevators were installed in two Russian royal palaces Saint
Petersburg and Moscow and thirty years later in London.
Revolution in elevator technology began with the invention of hydraulic and
electricity. Hydraulic elevators were most commonly used to transport freight goods
on small vertical distances. They operated on a principle that water pump increased
the pressure of the main plunger which pushed freight compartment upwards. This
solution was not practical for tall buildings and was soon replaced with rope-geared
elevator with multiple pulleys in 1850 (invented by the Henry Waterman of New
York).
Elevator design that is used today was first presented in 1852 with the discovery of
the safety device that prevented cabin from falling if the main cable broke. Inventor
of this device, Elisha Graves Otis, demonstrated such an elevator in New York
Crystal Palace 1854’s exhibition of technical achievements. Few years later his
elevator was installed in the first building in New York City.
Toward the end of 19th century several key discoveries regarding the use of
electricity with elevators were made. German inventor Werner von Siemens built
first electric elevator in 1880, and few years earlier J.W. Meaker patented a method
for safe opening and closing of elevator doors.
Use of elevators over the centuries has greatly improved ways of transporting
people and goods over vertical distances. Today in use are all types of elevators –
pneumatic, cable-borne and hydraulic.
Many countries today have legal requirement for use of elevators in multi-story
buildings.
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Elevator History

The Ancient Elevators

Elevators that we known and use today become widely available just over 150 years
ago, but human race begun developing them few thousand years before that. Ruins
of the several ancient civilizations show the marks of the strange shafts that could
possibly have been used for the simple elevators.
Greek scientist and inventor Archimedes (287 BC – c. 212 BC) created the first
elevator that was based on pulleys and winches around 236 BC. He wound the rope
around the wheel and attached two weights on its ends. If one of the weights was
lighter then the other, then it can be easily be risen to top. To make elevator to stop
more easily, Greeks often used platforms with equal weights and human workers
would operate the wheel on the top. This design proved to be quite popular in
Ancient Greek and its use was widespread.
The most complex elevator system of the ancient times was made in Roman Empire
at the Colosseum Arena in 1st century BC. It hosted 24 elevator cages which were
operated by the human force of 224 slaves. Teams of 8 slaves worked on a single
winch (one of 28), who then gave life to the complicated system of pulleys leavers
and ropes who finally delivered their deadly cargo to the arena floor. In a peak
usage moments, all 24 cages could be brought up and down from the floor to the
basements in the matter of seconds.
Before Greece and Rome one simple and crude form of elevator transport was
present in Ancient Egypt. The greatest need of Egypt farmers was the transport of
the important Nile water to their farms. For that purpose they devised simple
solution in which water was gathered in clay pots and pulled with hemp rope.
Studies show that several thousand slaves worked on those buckets during the
farming seasons. Lack of Egypt’s machinery development prevented them in
creation of more efficient ways to transport water via elevators.
 During middle ages in Europe, elevators with designs similar to Greeks and Romans
were in use at some locations. Walled castles and secluded mountain monasteries
used the winch system to elevate people and goods to their inaccessible entrances.
Age of ancient elevators came to the end between end of 18th and middle of the
19th century with the discovery of screw mechanisms, safety devices which
prevented fall, hydraulics and electricity.
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Elevator History

Elevator History Timeline

History and origins of the elevators can be told in a timeline that spans the time
of over five thousand years. Here are some of the most important elevator
related milestones:

 2900 B.C. – The Great Pyramid of Egyptian emperor Cheops at Giza was
made from over 2 million stone cubes. Each cube weighted over 5 tons and
was lifted to the height of 481 feet.
 2500-1500 B.C – Egyptian farmers transferred water from the Nile to irrigation
channels using the counterweighted lever.
 600 B.C. – Roman temple of Dianna was built in Ephesus. They used sandbag
ramp bridges to erect over 2.000 stone columns that supported the main
temple roof.
 236 B.C. – Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes invented first
elevator that was based on ropes, weights and wrenches. Basics of his
elevator theory became the foundation for all elevators in next 2.000 years.
 80 B.C. – Roman Colosseum was built with integrated network of 24 elevator
cages that carried gladiators and wild animals to the arena floor. Elevators
were powered by the work of over 200 slaves.
 50 B.C. – Invention of water wheel with a horizontal axis. It enabled it to be
powered by the force of flowing water.
 1203 – Abbey of Mont St. Michael used monkeys to power its treadmill hoisting
elevator.
 1690-1707 – French inventor Denis Palpin developed the theory of a steam
pump that would play the key role in the future hydraulic and pneumatic
elevators. He also invented high pressure water steam boiler.
 1743 – One of the first elevators that was intended for passenger use was
installed in French king Luis XV’s villa at Versailles.
 1765 – James Watt patented steam engine.
 1823 – “Ascending room” was built in London, giving the 20 people opportunity
to view the London panorama from the height of 37 meters.
 1829 – First electric motor prototype was built by American physicist John
Henry.
 1845 – Englishman Sir William Thompson patented idea of hydraulic crane.
 1854 – Elisha Grave Otis presented his first cabin that contained self-locking
door gear, which protected passengers from falling from elevator.
 1857 – Year in which Otis Elevator Company built and installed first steam
driven elevator intended for public use in a five story department store in New
York City.
 1870 – Nine story building in New York City became first building that was
purposely built with the elevator shafts. On a first day over 2000 people used
its elevators.
 1872 – First gas engine with 2 cylinders was built by German engineers
Nickolas August Otto and Eugene Langen.
 1887 – African American inventor Alexander Miles patented automatic elevator
door system.
 1878 – First electric elevator was built in Germany.
 1909 – 41 building in New York City got the first elevators with installed
telephones.
 1926 - Ruth Safety Garages in Chicago had the elevators that could transport
the cars in all 3 dimensions.
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Elevator History

History of Elevator Music

Elevator music, more commonly known as Muzak, came to use in the 1922 with
original purpose to calm the fearful passengers who used the elevators for the first
time. Since then use of this calm, relaxing music became widespread and is today
often used in many areas beside elevators (shopping malls, grocery stores,
department stores, cruise ships, airports, telephone systems and more). Muzak tunes
are purposely made to hold very simple melody and to be unobtrusive and easily
looped. It has been proven that some kinds of elevator music can psychologically
make buyers to shop longer and browse items more easily.

Main supplier of elevator music is Muzak Holdings LLC, company from South
California that started distributing simple music tunes since the early 1920’s. Their
main goal was distribution of music without the use of radio waves. Besides
elevators, hotels and restaurants they specialized in providing the music in factory
workplaces, claiming that background music can improve productivity among
workers.
In the beginning Muzak songs were recorded by the popular music artists, but in
1997 they started fulltime production of their own original songs. As of 2010 they
have produced over 3 million songs and are offering them over 100 internet
streaming radio channels.

During last 30 years Elevator music became the part of the pop culture, and was
often used in negative terms. Several popular music stars unsuccessfully tried to buy
Muzak Holdings with the sole goal of shutting them down.
Today Muzak supplies over 350.000 clients and their music is heard by over 100
million people daily.
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