Elisha Otis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elisha Otis
Expression error: Unexpected < operatorpx
Elisha Graves Otis
Personal information
Name Elisha Otis
Birth date August 3, 1811
Birth place Halifax, Vermont
Date of death April 8, 1861
Work
Significant projects elevators

Elisha Graves Otis (August 3, 1811 — April 8, 1861), son of Stephen Otis Jr. and wife Pheobe Glynn, invented a safety device that prevented elevators from falling if the hoisting cable broke.[1] He worked on this safety device while living in Yonkers, New York in 1852, and then finally had a finished product in 1854.

Otis was born near Halifax, Vermont.[1] He moved away from home at the age of 19, eventually settling in Troy, New York, where he lived for 5 years.[2] At the New York Crystal Palace, Elisha Otis amazed a crowd when he ordered the only rope holding the platform on which he was standing cut.[1] The rope was severed by an axeman, and the platform fell only a few inches before coming to a halt.[1] His new safety brake had stopped the platform from crashing to the ground and revolutionized the industry.

Otis sold his first safety elevators in 1853.[2] The first passenger elevator was installed by him in New York in 1857. After Otis's death in 1861, his sons, Charles and Norton, built on his heritage, creating Otis Brothers & Co. in 1867.[3]

Otis's invention increased public confidence in elevators, and therefore allowed for the mass construction of a new trend of building: the skyscraper.[3] The company he founded became known as the Otis Elevator Company,[2] the largest elevator company in the world. Today, it is a division of United Technologies Corporation.

Today, the Otis family owns a home along the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Invent Now. Invent Now Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
  2. ^ a b c Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Article on Elisha Otis. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
  3. ^ a b PBS. Inventor Article on Elisha Otis. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
  4. ^ BookRags. Elisha Otis Biography. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.