Elisha Graves Otis was an American industrialist, founder of the
Otis Elevator CompanyThe Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators...
, and inventor of a safety device that prevents
elevatorAn elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s from falling if the hoisting cable fails. He worked on this device while living in
Yonkers, New YorkYonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
in 1852, and had a finished product in 1854.
Biography
Otis was born in
Halifax, VermontHalifax is a town in Windham County, Vermont, in the United States. The town was named for the Earl of Halifax. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 782.-Geography:...
to Stephen Otis, Jr. and Phoebe Glynn. He moved away from home at the age of 20, eventually settling in
Troy, New YorkTroy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
, where he lived for five years employed as a wagon driver. In 1834, he married Susan A. Houghton. They would have two children, Charles and Norton. Later that year, Otis suffered a terrible case of
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
which nearly killed him, but he earned enough money to move his wife and three year old son to the Vermont Hills on the Green River. He designed and built his own
gristmillThe terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
, but did not earn enough money, so he converted it into a
sawmillA sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
, but still did not attract customers. Now having a second son, he started building wagons and carriages, at which he was fairly skilled. His wife later died, leaving Otis with two sons aged seven and two.
At thirty-four years old, and hoping for a fresh start, he loved Elizabeth A. Boyd and moved to
Albany, New YorkAlbany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. He got a job as a
bedsteadA bed frame or bedstead is the part of a bed used to position a mattress or foundation set off the floor. Bed frames are typically made of wood or metal. A bed frame is made up of head, foot, and side rails...
maker for Otis Tingely. He was skilled as a craftsman, and, tired of working all day to make only twelve bedsteads, he invented and patented a rail turner. It could produce bedsteads four times as fast as could be done manually, about fifty a day. His boss gave him a $500 bonus. Otis then moved into his own business. At his leased building, he started designing a safety brake that could stop trains instantly and an automatic bread baking oven. He was put out of business when the stream he was using for a power supply was diverted by the city of Albany to be used for its fresh water supply.
In 1851, having no more use for Albany, he first moved to
Bergen City, New JerseyBergen was a city that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, from 1855 to 1870.-History:Bergen was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 24, 1855, from portions of Bergen Township. In 1862, it did a reverse takeover, absorbing the...
to work as a mechanic, then to Yonkers, New York as a manager of an abandoned
sawmillA sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
which he was supposed to convert into a bedstead factory. He was forty, and when he started to clean up the factory, he wondered how he could get all the old debris up to the upper levels of the factory. He heard of hoisting platforms, but they often broke, and he didn't want to take risks. He and his sons, who were also tinkerers, designed their own "safety elevator" and tested it successfully. He thought so little of it he neither patented it nor requested a bonus from his superiors for it, nor did he try to sell it. After having several sales, and after the bedstead factory declined, Otis took the opportunity to make an elevator company out of it, initially called Union Elevator Works and later
Otis Brothers & Co.The Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators...
.
No orders came over the next several months. Then, the
1854 New York World's FairExhibition of the Industry of All Nations was a World's Fair held in 1853 in New York City, in the wake of the highly successful 1851 Great Exhibition in London. It aimed to showcase the new industrial achievements of the world and also to demonstrate the nationalistic pride of a relatively young...
offered a great chance at publicity. At the
New York Crystal PalaceNew York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of Mayor Jacob Aaron Westervelt...
, Elisha Otis amazed a crowd when he ordered the only rope holding the platform on which he was standing cut. The rope was severed by an axeman, and the platform fell only a few inches before coming to a halt. After the World's Fair, Otis received continuous orders, doubling each year. He developed different types of engines, like a three-way steam valve engine, which could transition the elevator between up to down and stop it rapidly.
In his spare time, he designed and experimented with his old designs of bread-baking ovens and train brakes, and patented a steam plow in 1857, a rotary oven in 1858, and, with Charles, the oscillating steam engine in 1860. For the remainder of his life, all the major corporations purchased Otis's invention and recognized his genius. Otis contracted
diphtheriaDiphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
and died on April 8, 1861 at age 49.