The elevator is an extraordinary invention. International Elevator Day
Currently, we use the latest technologies in elevators, including: intelligent control, security and traffic management systems, and their presence in tall buildings is obvious. But have you ever wondered what life and cities would be like if the elevator had not been invented? On the occasion of International Elevator Day on March 23, we tell the story of this revolutionary invention.
Elevators used to be
The origins of elevators date back to antiquity. In Egypt, around 2000 BC, primitive forms of elevators were used for transportation on construction sites. These simple structures supported the weight using ropes and pulleys.
In ancient Greece and Rome, elevators transported people in monumental buildings such as amphitheaters. The “machinae scenicae” based on a counterweight and operated by people carried the actors to the stage.
An early example of a mechanically driven elevator in modern times is Leonardo Da Vinci’s inclined plane for transporting building materials, which the Renaissance genius invented while working on the design of the cathedral in Milan.
Further development of technological thought in the field of vertical transport took place only in the 18th century. In 1743, Ewald G. von Kleist constructed the first hydraulic elevator in Germany. The inventor used water to make the cabin move.
Elevators more modern
The 19th century saw the invention of the steam elevator. In 1853, the American Elisha Graves Otis invented a safety brake that prevented the elevator from falling in the event of a rope break. The inventor presented a safe passenger elevator at the Crystal Palace Convention in New York and founded the OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY. Three years later, the first passenger elevator was installed in the Big Apple. After Otis’ death, his sons began selling lifting machines throughout the country under the Otis Brothers & Co. brand. This in turn made skyscrapers possible. Previously, the tallest buildings had up to 6 floors.
Initially, in office buildings, department stores and apartment buildings, operators were employed to manually operate elevators and ensure user comfort. In department stores, the roles of operators, janitors and guides who announced the assortment on a given floor or mentioned special offers were gradually combined.
With the advent of user-controlled elevators and the replacement of operating levers with buttons, the profession of an elevator operator became a thing of the past. Nowadays, meeting such a person in individual department stores in the USA or Japan, in high-speed elevators in skyscrapers or, for example, on the Eiffel Tower or the CN Tower in Toronto, is a real attraction and a source of valuable information.
It is worth adding that elevators are also the “heroes” of the Guinness Book of Records. Guinness World Records includes not only Elisha Otis’s invention, but also the fastest elevator, the first panoramic elevator, the highest elevators in the mine, in the building and inside the mountain.
Thus, the elevator covering the greatest vertical distance is located in the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa. It takes three minutes to descend to a depth of 2,283 m – 4.5 times further than the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa. The second elevator takes the miners even lower, to a depth of 3,597 m. Every day, it moves 4,000 mine workers – 120 at a time in three-level steel structures.
In turn, in the building, the elevator reaches a maximum height of 578.5 m. According to the Guinness Book of Records, these are the parameters of the high-speed NexWay elevator in Shanghai Tower in China. The elevator covers 124 of the building’s 127 floors.
However, the development of technology does not stop there, and at iLift we offer you the most modern solutions tailored to your individual needs.
