Elisha Otis (1811 – 1861) didn’t actually invent the elevator—they’d been in use since ancient Greece, possibly even invented by Archimedes (of “Eureka!” fame), but had been powered by animals, humans, or water wheels. The Romans famously used them in gladiator contests, or when they needed to hoist, say, elephants up to the main level of the Coliseum.
Steam or hydraulic powered elevators developed in the early 1800s. But Otis was the first to add a safety brake to a freight elevator, which prevented a free-fall in case a supporting cable were to break.
In 1854, he gave a demonstration at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York. Before a rapt crowd, he hoisted himself on the elevator car to the top of a building, and then deliberately cut the cable. But his safety brakes worked, and the elevator did not fall.
His demonstration boosted public confidence in elevators.
In 1857, the Otis Elevator Company installed the first steam-powered elevator in a five-story department store in Manhattan.
