09/02/2020 | 3 minutes read | Lift Industry News

The History of the Passenger Lift

ikonic lifts industry news

Introducing The Humble Lift

The word “lift” meaning a vertical transportation of people or goods between levels in a structure. In certain industries such as agriculture and manufacturing it can also describe a conveyor. Statistically lifts are the safest way to travel. Lifts have come along way over the years and play a large role in today’s society through out the world. Collectively lifts transport the equivalent of the world’s population in only three days.

Invention Of The Lift & Development Through Out History

Way back in 236 BC Archimedes was credited with inventing the lift, ancient Egyptians utilised ropes and driven hoist, powered by people, water and animals, to build and irrigate crops.

Through-out history lifts have been developed in various forms, generally for moving materials due to safety concerns. They have even been constructed to raise battling rams to destroy fortresses in war! In roman times lifts were considered extremely desirable and fashionable in royal palaces and were utilised in the colosseum. Frances Louis XV had a “flying chair and table” in Versailles constructed for his mistress and the first ever screw-drive lift was developed in the Russian Emperors Winter Palace in St Petersburg in 1793.

The 1800’s saw the introduction of steam-driven lift, heavily influenced by the industrial revolution with the increase in demand for transporting materials with lift technology being developed for increased loads and travel performance. The hydraulic-driven lift was not developed until early in the 19th century. Due to concerns with safety Passenger Lifts were still rare and far between. So much so that a tourist attraction located in the city of London called the “ascending room” opened in around 1823 which gave a panoramic view of London to the general public who paid for the privileged experience like a modern-day Alton Towers amusement ride.

A common misconception regarding the invention of the lift is, it was invented by Elisha Otis. In actual fact Otis invented the safety lift, which you would call today a Passenger Lift. His invention made lifts safe for general use by people. His design prevented the lift car from falling in the event the cable broke by use of a safety brake device.

This gave people trust and confidence in the lift and proved to be safe and instigated the first passenger lift in a New York department store in 1857. Less well known still is the first lift shaft had been built a few years prior to Otis’ release of his invention, due to the confidence of the architect he was working with, the safety lift was soon invented.

Otis’ invention influenced building practices of the time, with buildings becoming skyscrapers and passenger lifts providing safe vertical transportation offering much higher: usage, loads and travel capabilities. The butterfly effect continued and also changed the perspective of the wealthy and their living space desires, the rich wanted to live higher up than the more unfortunate and the “Penthouse” was created.

With the revolution of the Passenger Lift, Lift development took off at great speed:

1880 – Werner Von Siemens invented the Electric Lift
1880 – Frank Sprague made additional significant developments in lift speed and safety
1883 – Schuyler Wheeler patented his version of  Electronic Lift Design
1874 – J. W. Meaker patented the first method for Lift Doors to Open & Close Safely
1887 – Alexander Miles patented car with Automatic Doors that close off lift shaft
1894 – James F. McLaughlin’sPush-Button controls appeared
1895 – Traction-Drive development allowed for taller lift shafts and greater car speeds
1900 – Completely Automated Lifts but passengers wary of ‘lift sickness’!
1904 – Addition of Gearless Feature made car speed virtually unlimited
1915 – Automatic Levelling precisely positioned cars, power-controlled doors followed
1932 – First Double-Decker Lift, serving two floors at each stop, installed
1945 – Lift Operator Strike, automated voice, emergency buttons/telephones
1950 – Manned Lifts became a thing of the past

With developments of lift and latest technologies evolving continuously with the most recent being:

  • Separate inner and outer doors.
  • Photo-electric controls/proximity devices to avoid injury and control door reversal.
  • Passenger and lift monitoring equipment.
  • Audio-visual devices for information and advertising.

Thank you reading the history of the lift we hope you have found this as interesting as we do here at iKONIC.

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