science · 20 September 1853 · 171 years ago
In 1853, Elisha Graves Otis sold his first safety elevator equipment, having started his business earlier in the year to sell the safety elevator system he had invented the year before. His customer was Benjamin Newhouse in New York City who used it for moving freight. Shortly thereafter, in May 1854, at the Crystal Palace in New York City, Otis created public interest with a daring demonstration. He was hoisted high in the air on a platform fitted with his safety feature. When he called for the rope to be cut, the safety device stopped his fall. By 1857, he installed the first department store passenger elevator at E.V. Haughwout & Co. in New York City. In 1889 he applied the electric motor to power elevators.
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