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| US engineer
who developed a lift that incorporated a safety device, making it acceptable
for passenger use in the first skyscrapers. The device, invented 1852, consisted
of vertical ratchets on the sides of the lift shaft into which spring-loaded
catches would engage and lock the lift in position in the event of cable
failure. Otis was born in Halifax, Vermont, and became a builder and mechanic. During the construction of a factory in Yonkers, New York, he had to make a hoist and invented his safety device to prevent accidents to the workforce. Otis patented and began manufacturing his invention. At the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York 1854, he demonstrated it by letting himself be hoisted into the air, and then a mechanic cut the hoisting rope. This was a grand advertisement and the orders started to come in. In 1857, the first public passenger lift was installed in New York. Generally the lifts were powered by steam engines and in 1860 Otis patented and improved the double oscillatory machine specially designed for his lifts. Also from the workshops of his company, Otis invented and patented railway trucks and brakes, a steam plough, and a baking oven. |