The first person to get a patent on an elevator

Otis Tufts was the first American engineer to receive a patent on vertical elevators, but he was better known as a steam-powered printer inventor.

Elevators open a new era for skyscrapers and contribute to transforming the landscape and architecture of the modern city. The development history of the elevator and the inventors is also very special.

Innovators and modern elevator innovations

Otis Tufts is considered the father of passenger transport lifts.

Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, physicist and astronomer, is often credited with inventing the first known elevator. His equipment is operated by rope and pulley. The ropes were wrapped around a shaft-shaped barrel winding by a winch and lever.

The first elevators, or hoists, are primarily used to lift heavy objects, such as water or construction materials.

According to Livescience, King Louis XV has one of the earliest elevators designed exclusively for passengers, called "flying seats". It was installed by Blaise-Henri Arnoult at the Palace of Versailles in 1743.

At that time, Louis needed a private elevator to allow his mistress to visit him secretly. This elevator operates by pulling a rope connected to the pulley system with counterweights.

The next big leap in elevator technology was the steam engine in 1765 by James Watt. The new invention allowed elevators to move heavier, heavier objects - such as coal, wood and steel - to the upper floors of higher buildings as construction exploded in the Industrial Revolution.

In 1852, Elisha Otis and his sons devised a lift design using a safety device. A wooden frame at the top of the platform will bounce off the edge of the elevator shaft if the rope is broken, essentially acting as a brake.

Elisha Otis calls it a "safety hoist" and clearly demonstrates this design at the New York World Fair in 1854. Otis rides the "high platform" into the air and then cuts the rope, but, with brakes, it just falls a few inches before stopping.

Elisha Otis founded Otis Brothers Elevator Company (today called Otis Elevator Company, one of the largest elevator companies in the world) , has installed the first public elevator in a yearly department store. floor in New York in 1874. Electric elevator was born in the 1880s.

However, the true inventor of the modern passenger elevator and patented is Otis Tufts. Two years ago when Elisha Otis and his son came up with a safe ladder solution, Otis Tufts was granted a patent for a lift design with benches inside a sealed vehicle, with doors that automatically opened and closed.

Otis Tufts's design removed conventional rope and pulley systems due to safety concerns. Instead, he used the concept of screw up and down the screw.

The elevator car is a nut, inserted into a giant steel screw that extends the entire length of the shaft. Although it is very safe, it is also expensive and impractical - especially for very tall buildings.

Otis Tuft drawing and elevator model.

'Imprint' with other industrial inventions

Otis Tufts was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) in 1804. At the age of 21, he moved to Lowell to start a career as a mechanic and inventor.

Before becoming the first person to receive an elevator patent, Otis Tufts was the one who perfected and built the printer.

Otis Tufts elevator is quite different. He described his invention as "an elevator to transport people".

Otis Tuft's elevator design includes a door with a door that can be opened and closed automatically, protecting passengers from moving machinery in the elevator, which can 'attract' clothes or mechanical parts. when people go through.

This elevator also has benches for people to sit on. That is clearer evidence that this elevator is designed to move people, not furniture.

Because of coincidentally the same name Otis, many people were confused, between Otis Tufts and Elisha Otis, founder of Otis Brothers elevator company.

The elevator invented by Otis Tufts was installed at New York's Fifth Avenue Hotel in 1859, and for 15 years, the elevator served the seven-story building without incident.

Obviously, the Otis Tufts lift is really safe, but according to Lee Gray, Professor of UNC Charlotte School of Architecture (School of Architecture, UNC Charlotte): "It's too complicated, too expensive. Technology points, Otis Tufts's solution is not acceptable. "

That's why, after being granted a patent, Otis Tufts sold a few elevators, but because it was expensive, his design was not widely adopted.

Meanwhile, although Elisha Otis' first lift was supposed to serve cargo transport, Elisha Otis and Otis Brothers continue to improve the safety and effectiveness of the elevator, while OtisTufts is better known for its steam-based inventions.

The first iron steamship built by Otis Tufts makes boat travel much safer. He also invented a steam pile press, used to support the construction of foundations.

Harnessing the power of steam, Tufts's steam pile press has quickly accelerated the construction of the building and may have allowed buildings to grow even more with the ability to 'pile' deeper when done. nail.

According to Professor Lee Gray, Otis Tufts's invention opens us to the concept of modern elevators.

Otis Tufts died in 1869, aged 65 years.

The elevator company Otis, now owned by Elisha Otis's son, installed the first control system that automatically controls the different speeds of the elevator in 1924.

The system automatically controls acceleration, speed between floors and decelerates when the elevator stops. Otis Elevator has installed elevators in the newly completed Empire State Building, capable of moving 1,200 feet per minute (366 meters per minute). Empire State Building currently has 73 elevators.